-= Problem Solved =–
Probably the funniest thing that has happened to me past some days. It was one of the mounting bolts that was shorting the front panel audio pins from beneath. First time I ever saw a mobo that doesn’t have screw hole at that place, typically the one above PCI slots. Removed the mounting bolt & everything works fine.
Well in detail, I Went to the dealer SMC for mobo replacement today. I had taken my whole CPU so that everything can be checked thoroughly. Without any question, his engineer brought on a new mobo & we checked the mobo before fitting it in & it gave sound properly. Then we fit it in the chassis, plug power-on start & bang, no sound again. Sat for 10 mins discussing & he said may be the front panel Audio connector of the chassis that we connected has permanently shorted the output. Some discussion with his boss & then he finally agrees to fit in a 3rd brand new motherboard.
We did not check it outside this time & straight fit it inside the chassis, check & bang, no sound pffff!!. I just asked him let us now check it loose outside & it gave the sound. This concluded that there is some shorting with the chassis being the culprit. He made me notice that there was no screw hole at the place before the PCI slots but I had a mounting bolt screwed in there. Removed it, installed in the mobo & bingo everything working now. Immediately we called off the replacement guy just ready to take the first 2 mobo’s for his own replacement.
I call it bad design. & sure it is. This chassis is a Chenbro SR11 server chassis that I'm using since 2003, & it has enclosed more than 5 boards since then. I have never ever seen a mobo without a screw hole at that place specially, & on top of that, the idiot designers just place the front audio pins damn exact at the spot.
I’d like to mention that when the audio was not working, the jack sensing was not working also. & now it can sense them fine. I must say the link that lord_nemesis mentioned in the MSI forums is exactly the same prob as I was having & I'm sure 99.9% it’s the same cause. Coz normally when we are mounting the mobo in a cabinet, one always tends to install all mounting bolts on the left side atleast, & that’s the culprit here. lord_nemesis I can’t make an ID on msi forums there, the stupid image validation never works. In case you or anyone else has an ID there, pls reply to it with the above text so as to help others.
Thx anyways for the support.
My Regards to The community
