Well, an update on the front panel mod:
The pinout crossover I had come up with:
Quote:
Here's the AC97/Azalia pinout, taken from Intel.com:
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10
1 Mic_In - Front panel microphone input signal (biased when supporting stereo microphone)
2 Aud_GND - Ground used by analog
3 Mic_Bias - Microphone power / additional MIC input for stereo microphone support
4 Aud_GND - Ground used by analog audio circuits
5 FP_Out_R - Right channel audio signal to front panel (headphone drive capable)
6 FP_Return_R - Right channel audio signal return from front panel (when headphones unplugged)
7 AUD_5V - Filtered +5 V used by analog audio circuits
8 Key - No pin
9 FP_Out_L - Left channel audio signal to front panel (headphone drive capable)
10 FR_Return_L - Left channel audio signal return from front panel (when headphones unplugged)
and here's Creative's I/O drive pinout for Audigy/X-Fi (as best I've been able to research online):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 - Analog ground
2 - Left out
3 - Audio backpanel mute (grounded with headphone jack plugged in - I think this is Left Return)
4 - Right out
5 - same as pin 3 (I think this is Right return)
6 - Mic In from front panel
7 - no pin
8 - VREF Mic out (voltage reference for mic)
9 - Mic In mute (ground when mic isn't plugged in, +12V with mic plugged in)
10 - Audio Detect (ground when headphones plugged in, not normally used)
Soooooo . . . I've figured this crossover from my AC97 connector to the X-Fi (I list the AC97 pin numbers in the X-Fi pinout configuration):
2 9 10 5 6 1 8 3 7 4
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does indeed work with (as best I can tell) full compatibility. I have both left and right channels on my headset, stereo mic appears to be working correctly - headphone detect seems to be somewhat working . . . when you plug a headset in, the X-Fi mutes the output from the rear of the card to the primary speakers, but it doesn't enable headphone audio settings within the Audio Console
. Possibly, two of the connectors need to be swapped, I dick with it some more tomorrow - it's quite possible, too, that the 'enable headphone settings' only works in conjunction with the X-Fi 5.25" front panel. As it is now, I can live with it, though.
I took some pics of my hack & slash mod - I removed the proprietary connector and pins from the board, and soldered in some motherboard pins (cause I'm too damn cheap to buy the correct connector
). As I mentioned before, motherboard pins are a tad larger than the pins Creative used, so I had to narrow the ends of the pins going into the PCB with a dremel. Even still, once soldered into place, the pins are still a tad too close together for motherboard pin-style connectors, so I had to bend every other pin outwards
- it's a decent soldering job for what it is, and it works, it just looks a little . . . spartan, lol!
Anyhow, I'm going to work up a diagram of sorts sometime tomorrow. If anyone else is willing to use that pinout also, I'd really like some feedback that it's fully functional for anyone in need of HD capability before I post it as gospel to the front page.
Next mods up - heat spreader/EMI shield and LED replacement - whenever I can finish getting the materials needed.
<edit>:
anyone else willing to try it - I'd like some more feedback if possible
