The last of my computer components arrived today, so I've been busy putting it all together. Among the different components, I ended up getting an Intel DP35DP motherboard with a Coolermaster CM 690 case.

Everything went together very well except the HD connector for the front panel audio jacks didn't match the motherboard plug (there were 6 extra pins). I figured it wouldn't hurt to try, so I plugged it in hoping the extra pins were just for "added features."

Windows XP installation went great, and I installed the Intel drivers without incident. The windows startup chime sounded once. I attempted to try the front ports and never got sound from anything again. Windows does not recognize a sound device and reinstallation of drivers fails every time (even new downloaded drivers).

I suspect one of two things happened: 1. The board was faulty and coincidentally died after the first use. 2. The front panel connector was horribly mismatched and I somehow shorted that section of the board when I tried to use it.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about these to know if the simple thing I did was enough to fry a sound card. Any thoughts?
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This user added the following:
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Actually, I think I figured it out.

I thought the outlet marked "HD Audio Link" was an outlet for the HD front audio. It's a 15 pin plug that I'm still not quite sure what it's does.

I'm not quite sure on this, but I think that when I connected my head phones to the front audio, I ended up putting 12 volts through a 5 volt system. My sound card didn't stand a chance.

Well number one rule when making your own computer is to make sure the stuff even in the case will connect with the motherboard, By the sounds of it I would say you have busted your sound section in your board, if you cant get sound and have tryed everything you can (reinstalling drivers and checking sound settings) yes it can even be somthing like a tick box thats not ticked, but if nothing works then yeah I would say you have busted it.

Remember in the future if it does not fit 100% do not force it. I would guess now you have waisted your motherboard, hopefully someone here can prove me wrong but I would get a new one

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I love metal music.
I love CSI.
I love computers and games.

I think that covers everything about me to be honest

Did you mobo come with any instructions on where to place the cables?
If reinstalation fails, you want to keep your board, and you have an extra PCI/PCI-E slot, buy a sound card. On my old motherboard, my mic port never worked and I needed it for gaming, so I went out and bought a cheap sound card. I put it in, installed the necessary drivers, and it worked.
If you really don't want to do that, just return the mobo.
Hope that helps.

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Intel Core 2 Duo E6850, EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX SC x1 (hoping for two more soon ), Lite-On & Samsung DVD Burners, ZEROtherm CF900, XCLIO Windtunnel
EVGA 780i motherboard, OCZ SLI Edition RAM 6GB(2x1, 2x2), Seagate Barracuda 250GB HDD, Ultra X3 1000-W PSU, Vista HP 32-bit

Thanks guys,

Yes, I'm in the process of returning it. The motherboard did come with instructions, but they're a little vague for a newbie like me. They make more sense now in hindsight, not that hindsight helps me much.

Now I just have to wait a couple more weeks while I get a new one sent to me. The good news is that everything else worked great, so I just have to get that plug in the right place this time and I'm set.

Just take your time and I'm sure it will be fine.

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Mr Pickles
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