Sound card will only let me play 2 channel audio

I think that my sound card will only let me play 2 channels of audio. I recently bought a Dell XPS with the following audio hardware preinstalled. I also
got a Set of 2 Bose Companion 2 Speakers. I run Windows 7 Home Premium, so (64 bit), so I guess it could also be a Windows issue since 7 is a pain in the butt. Anway, the speakers will produce no audio when I use them, although they functions perfectly with my wife's laptop. I've messed around with all of the audio configurations in the control panel, to no avail. I hooked up my old 5.1 spearks, and they work to an extent. Only the Front 2 speakers play, with the subwoofer. The 2 rear speakers and center speaker do nothing. But, the standard 2 speaer stereo Bose speakers wont produce. The 5.1 speakers have a 3 wire hookup(black, beige, and green) and the Bose have a single audio wire (black). I can combine them, using the black wire from the bose in the Speakers Selection and the others from the 5.1, and in the Manage Audio part of the control panel I can get audio from them all with the bose acting as the rear speakers if I use a 5.1 config, but this will not work with any programs at all. I can only get sound from the 2 front 5.1 speakers and the subwoofer.

I would greatly appreciate any assistance.

Audio Devices - pre-installed

Name Realtek High Definition Audio
Manufacturer Realtek
Status OK

Name Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Manufacturer Creative Technology Ltd.
Status OK

Name ATI High Definition Audio Device
Manufacturer ATI Technologies Inc.
Status OK

Windows 7 Home Premium (x64)
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz, 2668 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
Total Physical Memory 12.0 GB

 

It basically seems that something (Audio device, windows,???) will not recognize the 2 bose speaker set as front speakers. When they are the only thing plugged in, the will still play as the rear speakers in quad or 5.1 config using the Speakers option, but the other audio device has no options for configuration as it will only give 2 channel playback, but will still not recognize the Bose speakers as anything but rear speakers. It's very strange.