So get this. I recently just installed a SATA HDD (Samsung 2504C) on my ASUS A8V Deluxe and now my audio isn't working. I've tried everything; checked volume levels and mutes on every channel including the master and WAVE, reinstalled Realtek driver (3 different versions including most recent), disabled and reenabled AC'97 on BIOS, etc. There are no hardware conflicts and Windows says that all the drivers are working perfectly and WMP plays everything just fine (as far as the visualization indicates). Tried front and back ports with headphones and speakers and every single setting in Sound Manager. However, even though I have 8 channels (ALC850), Sound Manager will only allow settings for up to six and connector sensing fails (not just doesn't detect, just plain fails) on every output. Could the chipset have died? I need help!