Loud buzz while using front audio ports

[mcvickj]

Over the weekend I swapped out my PSU for a Corsair CMPSU-750HX. I wanted a modular unit in my main rig and was going to move the non modular unit (CMPSU-750TX) into a different system.

I fired up a game and now if I use my headphones connected to the front audio ports I am getting a loud buzzing sound. Just sitting at the Windows desktop I can hear some noise when I move my mouse around on the screen.

If I unplug the headphones and plug them straight into the back of the motherboard it is crystal clear.

I thought it was the new PSU so I reinstalled my old one and the problem is still there. Argh. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Case - Antec 900
Motherboard - Asus P6T Deluxe V2
CPU - Intel Core i7-920 D0
PSU - Corsair CMPSU-750TX
Video - Sapphire Radeon HD 5850

 

[DesiPower]

You sure its not a setting on the sound's control panel? also trying disconnecting and reconnecting the front port's cable from both ends...

 

[mcvickj]

Any suggestions as to what setting I would be looking for on the sound's control panel? I disconnected the cable from the header on the motherboard. I'm not sure if I'm able to disconnect the other end. I'll check later tonight.

 

[Dahak]

I have seen sometimes if the mic is turned on you would get that, or another possibility is crappy front ports without proper shielding either on the ports or the cable, although I do see you have an antec case which hopefully has a good front ports.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Could be interference from being too close to another item in the case. Make sure the cable going to the motherboard isn't too close to your fans, optical drives, HDD's, Video Card, etc.

 

[mcvickj]

Thanks for the additional suggestions. I'll try them when I get home tonight.

I thought it was a motherboard issue but it appears that it is case related. I searched for "antec 900 front audio static" on Google and found a ton of information. It seems this is a pretty wide spread issue with the 900.

One of the best posts I have found so far is here (http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/522213.aspx) The post goes into detail about how each connector (USB, audio and firewire) has its own grounding wire and there is also a 4th for the entire harness that attaches to the case.

There are several suggestions and "fixes" others have done. I have submitted a support ticket to Antec to see what they have to say on the matter.

 

[RandalMcdaniels]

I had this exact same problem, my front audio jacks would make buzzing/clicking electrostatic noises that drove me absolutely crazy. Meanwhile the back audio jacks were crystal clear.
I even went through the lengthy process of putting multiple layers of shielding around the wire, as well as re-routing the wire throughout different parts of the case. I figured the little front panel circuitboard was grounded to the case correctly because there was little ground grommit thing sticking out of one of the wires that you had to put on top of the screw hole before screwing it down.. I later than opened up the case to make sure the ground was screwed down properly which it was.. It turns out the little ground grommit sticking out of the wire was for the 1394 firewire cord which i never had plugged into the motherboard (i have an asrock z77 extreme4 which does not have a firewire port) so basically the ground circuit was being completed because that 1394 wire was not even plugged into the motherboard at all..

So I fixed it!! Finally! I am so proud of myself!
After months of annoyance and multiple attempts at getting the buzzing noises to go away i had a hunch that it was because the 2 inch little front panel circuitboard was not sucessfully grounded to anything. So to make a long story short i decided to take a chance and see if i could ground it myself.. I got lucky here because i have to admit, i had no idea what i was doing.

I unscrewed the little front panel circuitboard and i took a little piece of tinfoil and i made it so one end of the tinfoil was touching one of the little soldered sharp bits at the bottom of the circuitboard, and i made the other end touch the screw hole area so that the screw would press down on the other end of the tinfoil when i screwed it back down..I had to use a little piece of scotch tape to get the tinfoil under the circuitboard to stay attatched to the pointy little solder notch. It looked pretty silly, but i was careful and made sure the tinfoil was only touching one metal contact under the board.

I was almost convinced it would do nothing because of how stupid it looked but OH MY GOODNESS!! I plugged the headphones back in and IT WAS FIXED!!! Crystal clear sound! I even turned the volume up to 100 on windows and i could not hear ANYTHING!

The only reason i tried this was a last ditch final desperate attempt to stop the annoying noises, please do not view my post as a failproof solution, if you want to try something similar please do so at your own risk, i had no idea what i was doing and got lucky. Just be careful and always remember to disconnect your computers power wire before doing anything

 

[Prey2big]

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