External Speakers do not work with Vista X64

I recently upgraded from a Gateway XP machine to a Gateway VISTA x64 machine. I thought that I would be able to just utilize the same external speaks (boston accoustic) on the new machine. After going round and round with Gateway support (deleted Realtek drivers, reinstalling, checking speaker settings, looking to see if volume was on mute, and on and on) I was told that the old speakers were not compatible with 64 bit processing. I was forced to use the wimpy speakers that came with the unit. Can anyone help me figure out how to use the old 2.1 boston accoustic speakers that are better? I'm new to vista also.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

feebo welcome to the forums.

First let me say that the "techs" at Gateway are complete MORONS. They only way they could even be remotely correct is if your speaker set is USB, if they connect to a sound card (onboard in your case or an actual card) then 64 or 32 bit makes zero difference.

Next if you haven't check in the Vista sound settings and make sure that it is set to 5.1 (right click the speaker icon in the systray and select Playback Devices, click on Speakers and make sure it is set as default, then click on Configure and make sure it is set to 5.1). Next check the levels of each speaker (and yes they can change independently of the sound card configuration settings),



Also make sure that you have all the connections (assuming a front rear and center jack from the speakers) plugged in correctly to the sound card, then check the settings in the Realtek controls.

Thanks Stormy, I'd like to think that I know something about electronics - that was my first thought - that it makes no difference what speakers I attach. I will go through what you listed, but I believe I've done this already (I'll do it again). I have a left and right speaker and a subwoofer - should I still set it to 5.1? I only use the one connector (green end) and plug it into the corresponding green receptical on the back of my computer. Does that change anything that you've told me?

Thanks again!