You may also want to go to your motherboard's download section at Gigabyte, get their manual and compare it to the one that came with the board, see if there isn't something in there that you might not have with the included manual; also, ensure that the front panel connector cable isn't too close to other components inside the system; some recommend running the front panel connector behind the motherboard tray, to prevent interference/crosstalk on the front panel wires; I've read a couple different posts that mention you CAN'T use the front and rear plugs at the same time, if you have speakers plugged into the rear, and headphones in the front, there may be some hardware/software switch that could effect the mic port as well. There's some conflicting info regarding using the included drivers, or the realtek downloads; and alot about the kb888111 patch, but ??
Have you tested other mic's? or your mic in another PC? tried wiggling the cable around or connector ~"gently" and listening for popping/fuzz? noise while moving the cable or gently wiggling at the connector while recording would indicate a bad connection or broken wire. Sorry I don't have a definate solution; I don't have this model board, and I'm going by what other people are posting about audio issues for your model board in other forums.. If the sound recording tests mentioned in the manual give you the same results as just trying to use your mic with your app's You could try removing the uaa audio driver and going with AC97 driver's and retest/reconfigure the mic/recording properties. There may also be the option of searching the web for the drivers that were including in the "ultimate" version of your OS, unless they are specific to VISTA, I don't know if XP came in an "ultimate" version, I do know that there is a home/media center or pro version of XP and VISTA was the one that said "ULTIMATE" and does include TONS of the latest drivers for VISTA. Earlier you mentioned that you went from XP "ULTIMATE" to another version of XP, did you mean vista Ultimate? If so, then nevermind about searching for the drivers that were included in the "ULTIMATE" version of your OS.