Sound Noise Issue

Hi,

I am having a bit of a problem with the new computer I tossed together. I am using the Antec 1200 case, and it has a single cord with connectors for both HD and AC97 audio cards. The AC97 is on the end of the cable, and the HD is a little ways from the end.

My X-Fi likes the HD connection, so I tried using it first. I plugged my headset into the front jack. Problem was a noticeable bit of background noise anytime the computer was on, especially whenever I moved the mouse. It was only detectable when there were no other sounds. I tried the back jack, and everything was perfect, but the cord on my Sennheiser HD280's is particularly long, so I liked the convenience of the front panel.

So, I tried taking out the X-Fi, and hooking the HD connection up to my motherboard. Same thing.

When you connect the HD connection, the remainder of the cable with the AC97 connection sticks up, and I think it might be acting like an antenna and picking up interference from the surrounding electrical components, but I could be wrong.

Well, my motherboard supports HD or AC97 connections, so I switched the BIOS setting and connected the AC97 to it and plugged in my headphones. The good news was no more background noise. The bad news was that my integrated sound card wouldn't detect I had headphones plugged in, so I had no normal sound this way either.

Is there any good fix for this situation? (like maybe a way to ground the AC97 connection while using the HD connection {or remove the AC97 part of the cable without causing problems even; i am kind of scared to just try wrapping the dangling wire in tin foil - I have tried re-routing it several different ways to not be too near stuff, but while sometimes it changes the quality or quantity of the noise; it doesn't eliminate it}, or use the AC97 connection with my X-Fi and hopefully have it detect the headphones).

On a side note, can you get a splitter that would allow me to split out the pins of the AC97 connection and use it with my Barracuda AC-1 instead? I grabbed a new sound card, since I wanted to be able to connect the front jacks, since the Razer card has a weird pin-out and the connectors for my front audio are just blocks instead of individual wires. I could still take the X-Fi back for all it mattered (or I can keep the X-Fi and auction off the Barracuda - doesn't really matter; I am kind of sick of Razer's drivers for the thing anyway).

Thanks.

If you are getting noise in the front jacks that seems to be usb related, disconnected the front usb port and see if that helps. If not, I like the headphone extension cord advice.