I just built up a new shuttle xpc. The onboard audio is Realtek AC97, with built on surround sound (5.1). After getting all the software/drivers installed for it (windows xp pro sp2 x86), i couldn't figure out how to turn virtual surround sound on!? By virtual surround sound, i mean that; when i am using window$, and a notification pops up, it only uses 2 speakers. When i play something with actual surround sound, all the speakers work fine.
On my old computer (which also had xp pro sp2 x86 on it), i had a c-media 5.1 surround sound card in it. The software that came with it had an option to turn on virtual surround sound (which made stereo sounds work on all 5 speakers, and sent all the bass to the sub)

I cannot find any such option on the software that came with my shuttle.
I think the software that came with it is called "sound effect manager".
Any help would be great!

Umm... Ok...


All the games i have tried make it work just fine, as does media players (VLC [Video LAN], Cyberlink PowerDVD, and WMP)

Like i said before, when i am in windows, notifications are only 2 channels. Now i just noticed that videos on youtube and google video are only 2 channels!


If anyone knows how anoying this is... I don't mind stereo, as we only have 2 ears, but THERE IS NO BASS! It is all treble. This means that stuff sounds like ABSOLUTE CRAP!