Never mind, for anybody who can't get their speakers working with an external sound card, go into Control Panel, Sound, and ensure that your speakers are selected, not your card. If the card is selected then usually it will only be recognized as a 2.1 system, and you will have to use Matrix mode; however, if you choose your speakers, and they are set up right, then testing them in the Properties window should cause sound to come from all speakers and your subwoofer. For me, the test went: right front, left front, center, subwoofer, right rear, left rear. If anybody gets anything different, check to see if everything's connected properly. If you have a 7.1 card, make sure the front is connected to the green (front), the rear cord connected to the port after the green (typically black), and skip the next hole and plug in the center/sub cord into the orange port. On my 'box, green is F-OUT, rear is labeled SS-OUT, and the center/sub is C/B-OUT (kinda obvious there, as only one connection controls two things).
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, but please make sure you've tried everything short of going out to buy new speakers to see if you got a defective system. If you're still on warranty, fine, but I don't want you to waste your money. 
