realtek hd audio 5.1 issue. please help!

verify that the move disk you are trying to play is encoded in 5.1 (play it with a dvd player hooked up to your home theater). if it works fine and plays out the center channel then you can verify that this disk is correct. try that in your pc using windows media player or another player that is known to be working besides VLC media player. on a known good disk, do you still not get center?

note: almost all music is stereo only. some movies such as foreign works, animation, older titles and some online streaming services are stereo only. most games should be surround however may have an option in the settings for this to turn on and off.

make sure you have your system set to 5.1 in settings and that you do not have any of the speakers set to full range.

if you still get nothing, could be something wrong with the onboard or drivers although what is odd is that you get sound when you do a test which points towards audio working fine but the files you are playing being the issue.

i'm thinking a cheap soundcard like a xonar dg has a good chance of fixing the issue provided its not any of the above.