Dell XPS 400 with an X-FI: How to get the front-panel headphone jack to work?

cyberia

Platinum Member
Oct 22, 1999
2,535
0
0
I got a Dell XPS 400 and added an X-Fi sound card. Is it possible to get the front-panel headphone jack to work? It stopped working when I disabled the onboard audio.

Those of you with an XPS 400 with an X-Fi directly from Dell: Does the front-panel jack work out of the box?

Thanks.
 

Twsmit

Senior member
Nov 30, 2003
925
0
76
It probably wont work, i know with the audigy series the convenient audio ports on many cases sit useless because they are incompabile with anything but some forms of onboard sound.
 

Accord99

Platinum Member
Jul 2, 2001
2,259
172
106
There's a good chance it'll work, previous Creative soundcards have worked with Dell systems in the past.
 

cyberia

Platinum Member
Oct 22, 1999
2,535
0
0
Originally posted by: Twsmit
It probably wont work, i know with the audigy series the convenient audio ports on many cases sit useless because they are incompabile with anything but some forms of onboard sound.
Originally posted by: Accord99
There's a good chance it'll work, previous Creative soundcards have worked with Dell systems in the past.

Yes, the Dimension 8400 that I just replaced came with an Audigy 2 pre-installed by Dell, and the front headphone jack worked. So, there is a very good chance that Dell's XPS 400s with preinstalled X-Fi's have the same feature. Any Dell owners?
 

cyberia

Platinum Member
Oct 22, 1999
2,535
0
0
Originally posted by: wizboy11
Is the front headphone jack plugged into the x-fi?

No, it's not. This thought came after the fact. I was not smart enough to investigate the issue while the case was still open. Now a gazillion cables are plugged in into the PC in a hard-to-reach corner, and I am hoping to get a yes/no answer before I unplug the PC again.

I did check X-Fi's documentation. There does not seem to be a user-accessible internal port for front connectors.
 

ViRGE

Elite Member, Moderator Emeritus
Oct 9, 1999
31,516
167
106
Cyberia, there should be a connector that connects the front panel to the sound card. Take a look at http://audigy2zshowto.blogspot.com/, they have some details on this connector(though the focus is on hooking it up to generic case front panels, since it's a custom Dell connector).
 

ta8689

Golden Member
Feb 5, 2006
1,116
0
0
Yeah...why would you expect your mobo to make sound when you disabled it??? DUH!