Weird sound problem...?

Alright so here's the deal. I recently switched parts from an old proprietary HP case into my new Antec 900 for more silence/cooling/whatever and as soon as I boot it up I notice a few problems. I fixed the other ones easily but there is one more: My sound doesn't work.

I've done some general troubleshooting here is another topic I posted on it: Sound not working

I'm almost certain it is a hardware problem because I've never had this problem before and I didn't do anything Drastic on the OS side let alone something drastic dealing with sound drivers.

Here is a picture of my motherboard:

I have hooked up the firewire, USB and Power button/Reset button but not the front audio.

Does it have to be hooked up for my motherboard audio to work? I don't have my speakers hooked up to the front audio (obviously ) and I never did before.

Help is appreciated. :? I'm really stumped.

I have had single components of my motherboard stop working before while the rest still works. Currently my onboard network port is shot.

Try buying a cheap soundcard and see if that is your problem. Sabrient makes <$10 5.1 cards.

The Mobo is seperated from the case by those half inch gold-or-copper-doohickies

Ordered the Xtreme Gamer card ($50 after MIR). We'll see what happens when it gets here. I'll post back.