Antec 900 Front Audio Ports

[Green Gigs]

I have been doing some reading that many people hear system static noise (such as moving a mouse) through their front audio port on the antec 900. Supposidely the problem is that all the front ports for usb firewire and audio all share one ground. Disconnecting the usb ports and firewire clears the problem up...but obviously people want these to work. Has anyone done a custom reworking of the ground wires and was it hard to do?

 

[RallyMaster]

Wrap the wires up with aluminum foil? I'm pretty sure the static/noise is coming from the induced voltages in the inductors and therefore is causing EMI.

 

[mpilchfamily]

It can happen and yes the common ground tends to be the problem. Biggest problem I've had is having a static charge and when i go to plug in the headphones i get a shock and knock the PC out.

 

[Green Gigs]

Wow, I hadn't heard of static charge problems before thats interesting. As far as the Antec 900 goes, I 'm thinking covering them in tin foil wouldn't work, because why would the problem go away when firewire and usb are disconnected if it were just EMI?

 

[Zepper]

Are the shields on the cable grounds, grounded at both ends or just at the mobo? Test: Set your multimeter to its lowest Ohms scale. Unplug any and all of the front ports cables from the mobo, connect the black lead of the meter to the chassis and touch the shields of the connectors with the red probe. If the reading is as close to 0 Ohms as possible, then the shielding is connected to the chassis (hopefully right at the ports panel). If the reading is high or infinite, then the shielding is not grounded. If the shielding is not grounded properly (the audio cable should be grounded at both ends too), then you may need to do so.

It is also a possibility that the front panel audio cable is not shielded - if it is not, then you'll have to replace it with one that is and then make sure the shielding is grounded at both ends. http://www.frontx.com makes front panel audio assemblies.

Here is what I did for the C-M 690 I had here for a while:
http://www.techimo.com/reviews...roduct.php?product=461 - it will give you the general concepts. Just apply it to your particular system.

.bh.

 

[Green Gigs]

Thanks for the informative post! Great info!

 

[andrey]

You can also simply disconnect the ground wire on Antec 900 case. It's not a perfect solution, but it will make sound much cleaner through front panel audio