The mini-din port is for a breakout cable with multiple inputs (mic, line, etc) and I think the big black thing on top in this pic (http://images.addoway.com/items/2846/1402371/ … 46_1_abcb00.jpg) is like a heatsink, since the chip it's touching is a 20-w amp or such. You might be able to use breakout cables from other cards (M-audio, etc); I could only find a few pages with people talking about the pinout.

ok thanks for the info

Ok so i have finally got this card in a pc (running windows 98SE) i installed the latest drivers and its working but the sound output is insanely low. I have the windows mixer master volume and wave volume both at 100% and the sound is still low, anyone got any ideas?

I'm wondering if it requires an extra power connection, it has 4 connections on the top POWER,CD AUDIO IN, FRONT, TAD. The connector labled POWER looks like a plug for a Berg connector but it has -12 and +12 above some of the pins which is confusing me 😖

Would anyone be able to shed some light on my problem here? i really want to get this card working properly but im afraid im going to burn it out or something if i try this power connector

why don't you post a nice high-res pic of the card so we can look at the power connector you mention?
I guess the card does need power for it big amp , but that is only a guess...

Ok here is a picture, hopefully we can figure this out, as i have been google-ing for hours and there is almost no documentation on this particular card. All i have found out is that an HP OEM version of the card.

I am almost sure the power connector is to power the LM amp... look at the specs here: http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/vi … SC/LM1876T.html
do you have a multimeter? it would help if we knew at what pins of the LM the power connector ends...

I do have a multimeter, what exactly should i be doing with it to figure this out though?

see what pin(s) on the power connector goes to the LM amp ... just touch one end to the 1st pin and start testing the pins on the LM and see where a connection is made... then write it down and continue with the next pin on the power connector
then we will see if the power-in is for the LM amp and if it is what the pins are

ok so here is what i got

Power Con. LM1876T
Pin 1 (-12) -> Pin 4
Pin 2 -> Pin 5,9,10,14
Pin 3 -> Pin 5,9,10,14
Pin 4 -> Pin 2,15

it looks like the LM gets -12v, +12v and the 2 middle pins are gnd...

are you feeling adventurous? connect there a floppy power cable WITHOUT THE RED WIRE THAT IS +5v (yellow to +12v - pin4 in your list - and the 2 black wires in the middle) and see if it works... the card might get the needed -12v from PCI pin B1 (which makes sense since there is no -12v signal available easily elsewhere)
but be prepared, this might not work , there is a chance you will damage your hardware....!

hmm i was considering trying that anyway, do you think there is a high chance of damaging anything?

Can't really tell... you could end up with a dead card but I doubt it... worst case scenario the LM gets toasted. not a big deal IMHO since you could not get it working right at the first place...
see the pci connector here: http://pinouts.ru/Slots/PCI_pinout.shtml , and check if the -12v pin does indeed connect to the pci pin B1 on the card...

well the card doesn't even have the B1 pin at all so no -12V there.

oh... don't know what to think next... 🙁

i was thinking maybe run a wire from the -12V on the 20pin connector to the connector on the card, It seems like the only thing to do now.

if you do that make absolutely sure your power supply is either AT or ATX v1.x, as of atx 2.0, -12v is unused and unreliable at best.

Well i did it i wired the -12V into the connector replacing the +5V and it now works perfectly 😁, Thanks to all that assisted me in figuring this out.