What will work with 7.1 on-board sound?

Will any other speaker systems ( 5.1,...etc...) work with my on-board 7.1 sound? I accidentally bought a 5.1 system and thought that I could just splice the rights & lefts together and make it work but it makes a bad humming noise. I tried different combinations...left only one right and one left...tried different connections at the board...but nothing got rid of the humming. I did this quite some time ago and since I rarely need my speakers I just put up with the humming and keep them turned off when not in use...which is most of the time.

I was thinking that the on-board sound system may be bad, but I don't know for sure....maybe the 5.1 system just won't work with the 7.1...don't know...maybe this particular 5.1 system was bad from the beginning..?

But now I would like to fix that and am wondering what my options are. I don't really want to spend $80.00 or more for a 7.1 speaker system so I was needing to know if any other systems will work...like a simple 3 way system...or even maybe another 5.1 system.

I have considered getting a 5.1 sound card but a sound card and a speaker system would cost about as much, if not more, than just buying a 7.1 speaker system.

Like I said, I just don't need a really good sound system...just one that doesn't hummmmm!!

Usually in the sound effect, you can select 5.1 ot 7.1 output.

Sound Effect sits in my system tray. I just R-click it and select Sound Manager. I have many options in mine to chose from.

I will check that out...thanks.

Steve, go into Device Manager and expand Sound Controllers to see what company's audio is used on your mobo (Realtek AC97 is a common one). With that info, go into Program Files and look for the appropriate company's folder; check all the .exe files you see until you find the control console and you can change your settings accordingly.

If you never actually ran the app when you set up Windows, you may have to run the audio installer.

Steve, go into Device Manager and expand Sound Controllers to see what company's audio is used on your mobo (Realtek AC97 is a common one). With that info, go into Program Files and look for the appropriate company's folder; check all the .exe files you see until you find the control console and you can change your settings accordingly. (Arrange the folder icons by Type and they'll all be grouped together.)

If you never actually ran the app when you set up Windows, you may have to run the audio installer.