Only getting 2.1 sound out of 5.1 system

Hi,I just got an SBS 560 system on sale for my secondary computer. The 560 has a green, black and orange plug coming out of the sub, my computer (integrated Realtek AC97 sound) has a green, orange and blue connector. The 560 box tells me green is line out (front), orange 2 (rear) and black 3 (center/sub). Green is not an issue. Green and orange match up so I figured the black plug would go into the blue connector. The problem is the center and rear speakers are extremely soft. When I unplug the front ones from the sub and turn the volume way up I get sound from the center and rears, when everything is plugged in you can't hear anything. I'd guess the center and rear put out maybe 5% of the volume of the front speakers. I switched the black and orange plugs (black in orange and orange in blue) but the result is the same. Does anyone know what the problem might be? Is the Realtek not 5.1 capable? I changed my sound profile in the control panel to a 5.1 setup but even the test there won't recognize the center and rear. I'm not sure what it might be.

As I was saying, try testing with DVD that have Dolby Digital. Only those source have actual 5.1 signal and should be able to give you a more acurrate result. Normal sources are often only in stereo and that's only 2 channel.
Also, you can try testing the speaker individual by using external source instead of the computer.
1. Completely disconnect the speaker cable from the sound card.
2. Make sure the speaker cable is still securely connected to the speaker system.
3. Connect the green connector of the speaker cable into the Line Out/Headphone jack of the external device(MP3 player,discman,etc).
4. Power the device on and start playing audio.
Listen and make a note if there is not any sound or if the sound is distorted in any way.
5. Disconnect the speakers from the device and repeat steps 1-3 for the black connector and orange connector
Jason

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If you connect speakers to your sound card using a digital cable
(RCA/SPDIF or optical) then the software speaker test will only output
from two speakers. The reason for this is that the speaker test signal is
not in AC3 nor DTS format.
The signal on a digital connection is either
Optical SPDIF - which is either Stereo PCM signal or AC-3/DTS Bitstream
RCA SPDIF - which is either Stereo PCM signal or AC-3/DTS Bitstream
If you play AC3 (Dolby Digital) or DTS encoded signals, the amplifier
decodes this and outputs it to all 6 speakers (5 satellites & subwoofer)
discretely.
When playing back stereo signals (such as Wav/CD Audio or MP3/WMA files)
the amplifier may generate 5. output based on the incoming stereo PCM
signal, provided Dolby Pro Logic decoding is available and activated.
Therefore the speaker test should not be relied on when using RCA or
Optical digital connections.
This applies to all speaker systems equipped with RCA or Optical digital
connections.
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Message was edited by: ScottishCaptain

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