Question Asus Z390-A front-panel audio

May 19, 2019
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Anyone got this to work on Windows 10 Pro 32-bit? The HD Audio plug from my case seems to have a standard pinout and was working with my old Intel mainboard before I upgraded to the Z390-A. It's plugged into the AAFP mainboard header correctly; the AC97 plug's unconnected. HD Audio is enabled in the BIOS. Rear-panel audio works as it should. Front-panel audio is completely dead when I boot into Windows. When I boot into Ubuntu 18.04 instead, it recognises HD Audio and both rear- and front-panel audio work perfectly. To me that suggests the Windows driver's at fault; it certainly doesn't register me plugging anything into, or unplugging anything from, the front-panel mic or headphone jacks.
 
Is there a specific reason you are running the 32bit version instead of the 64bit one? You realize that practically no hardware manufacturers are supplying 32bit drivers for anything anymore, right?

And that there haven't been any consumer processors incapable of running 64bit windows, for years?
 
May 19, 2019
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Yes: I'm synaesthetic. 32 looks like sunshine; 64's the colour of Mr Knowall's toupee - the teacher who used to insult our intelligence in primary school.

Yes. Well, except the hardware manufacturer that supplied the Windows Sunshine HD Audio driver for the Z390-A, which installed automatically and works perfectly apart from the front-panel audio. Oh, and the manufacturers that supplied all the other drivers that installed automatically on Windows Sunshine and work perfectly. But you knew that.

Yes. But I used Supa Glue to insulate every second pin on my 64-bit CPU, so it'd run Windows Sunshine without all those distractions. Great trick - found it on EEVblog.
 
I haven't the slightest clue what you are talking about. Windows looks the same, based on how you configure it, regardless of what bit depth the installation is. Sounds like pure nonsense to me unless I'm completely missing some weird niche usage.

I'm voting troll, or at least, troll-like.
 
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COLGeek

Cybernaut
Moderator
Yes: I'm synaesthetic. 32 looks like sunshine; 64's the colour of Mr Knowall's toupee - the teacher who used to insult our intelligence in primary school.

Yes. Well, except the hardware manufacturer that supplied the Windows Sunshine HD Audio driver for the Z390-A, which installed automatically and works perfectly apart from the front-panel audio. Oh, and the manufacturers that supplied all the other drivers that installed automatically on Windows Sunshine and work perfectly. But you knew that.

Yes. But I used Supa Glue to insulate every second pin on my 64-bit CPU, so it'd run Windows Sunshine without all those distractions. Great trick - found it on EEVblog.
No. CPUs do not work this way. Your sense of humor is obviously an acquired taste, but this should not be construed as technical advice. Thank you for the chuckle.
 
May 19, 2019
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Thanks for an on-topic reply that doesn't insult my intelligence. I have to ask though: if there's no 32-bit HD Audio driver, what's making the rear-panel audio work? It turns off if I disable HD Audio in the BIOS, so it's not some default driver that's using the rear jacks with, say, AC97.

There are several reports on the Web of non-functional front-panel HD Audio on other modern Asus mainboards, almost all of which I'd guess are running 64-bit Windows not the 32-bit version I'm stuck with for now. I haven't seen the complaint about a Z390-A specifically, that's why I started this thread.
 
First, make sure you have the MOST recent BIOS version installed.

Second, insulting your intelligence isn't anything anybody wants to do, but when you post replies like you did earlier it makes it difficult to assume you HAVE intelligence, or if you do, that you are not simply trolling. So let's let that that all go since clearly you actually do have an issue and are not simply being ridiculous.

I'm still interested in knowing why, actually, you are not running the 64 bit version of Windows.

Your biggest problem here is that there are NO drivers available for your motherboard on 32 bit windows. It is NOT supported, which is why no drivers are listed on the motherboard product page for 32 bit windows 10. Without the correct 64 bit drivers for the chipset, audio, storage controllers and network adapters, you are at the mercy of Microshaft's limited 32 bit drivers which may work in some cases, but in others will be not much better than operating in safe mode. Hence, the front panel audio doesn't work while the rear output does. It is probably due to a lack of the proper chipset (And HD audio) drivers which are necessary for the chipset to know how to speak with the front panel hardware through the audio codec. That would be my guess.
 
May 19, 2019
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Good thought, I'd hoped to try that: switch to AC97 in both the BIOS and the cabling and see if the front panel worked that way at least. Unfortunately, unlike some slightly earlier Asus boards, the Z390-A BIOS doesn't offer AC97 as an option - only HD Audio enabled or disabled.
 
May 19, 2019
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ATM I'm at work and the PC isn't, but I'll look into it. First snarl is that I know the AC97 cable won't reach, but I can put my foot on one end and stretch it by six inches**. What makes me doubtful from the outset though is that it all works perfectly when I boot into Linux instead.

** The cable, not my foot.
 
What makes me doubtful from the outset though is that it all works perfectly when I boot into Linux instead.


Which is exactly why I believe this is a Windows driver issue, and since there ARE no 32 bit drivers for that hardware, it's very doubtful you are going to get it to work on 32 bit windows unless somebody creates a custom 32 bit driver for the audio chipset.
 
May 19, 2019
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Which is exactly why I believe this is a Windows driver issue

Oh please. Given all the evidence I've supplied, who'd believe anything different? I'm hoping for a solution that doesn't amount to, "Fix your driver issue by changing the entire OS - to one that, almost certainly, is already running on every similar Asus board for which the same problem's been reported." I may yet swing your sledgehammer suggestion at my system. It might even work; but clearly that's far from sure, and I'm keen to exhaust any alternatives first.
 
May 19, 2019
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Up to now, to support a handful of clients, I've had to run several compilers that were badly written for Win32 and fail in nasty ways on Win64. Even nine years ago, when I first installed Win32 on 64-bit hardware solely for that reason, I'd rather have installed Win64 instead. And maybe, if that'd been an option, Win64 would now support FP audio on the new mainboard - without the problems that I and other Asus users have encountered. If "ifs" and "ands" were pots and pans, there'd be no room for tinkers.


... unless you plan to simply stick with Linux.

I stick with Linux at every opportunity. That doesn't help with FP audio on a partition that isn't Linux and that, for now, can't be Win64.