X870E Hero can't enable rear speakers via front panel audio for 5.1

[Jarnis]

First, a big fat "you fail" for shipping this board without 5 rear audio jacks. At this price point you should not be cutting corners like this.

Ok, so I'm supposed to be able to attach 5.1 speakers via using one jack from the front panel. But it does not work.

If I plug my rear speakers to the "mic" front audio connector, they do not work. If I plug them to the headphones connector and switch to 7.1 mode, they work as side speakers, confirming that the cable and the speakers are fine. For some reason I can't get any audio in 5.1 mode out of the front panel mic jack. Driver bug? Also why can't I just switch the rear speakers to the headphones jack which clearly works for side speakers, that would solve this as well?

[Jarnis · Accepted solution]

Update on this in case it helps someone else with the same issue: I got it to work. For whatever reason the front panel audio jack of the Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL is such that you can "push a connector too far in" and lose one of the channels on the 4-pin TRRS audio (combo mic-headphones via one jack). Subtly pulling out the cable by a few millimeters suddenly allowed both mic and headphone connectors work and rear channel started to come out just fine from the mic line.

So not a motherboard / driver issue, instead either the case front panel TRRS connector or the TRRS cable I got is slightly off spec and allows you to push it "too far in".

[Jiaszzz_ROG]

Hello @Jarnis 

Thank you for reaching out to us.
As we can only provide installation guidance or common troubleshooting methods, the actual installation conditions (such as connection stability or the state of the cables) would need to be verified by you directly. I’m glad to hear that you were able to identify the issue.
If you encounter any further difficulties or have any concerns, please feel free to update again or DM me anytime.

Thank you.