Problem With Sound Card - Too Quiet

I have an HP 8562, which came with a Riptide Audio card. I'm running Win 98SE with 192 MB of ram. I just installed a SoundBlaster 16 bit PCI card, dl-ed the latest patches, I had uninstalled all the previous drivers, and ....... the sound, at full, is so soft I have to concentrate to hear it. I'm using Polk speakers that came with it, I went through dxdiag and changed nothing, I am in dismay.

Any suggestions/software that can help me will be greatly appreciated.

 

This isn't necessarily an answer!!! I have had similar problems and my only solution that seemed to work was to purchase a set of amplified speakers. You definately have it plugged it in to the correct spot? Gotta ask

 

Yes, right spot, otherwise I would hear nothing. I was worried I might need amplified speakers, but I like the polks....

 

Get the sound going. Play a cd or something. Then try fiddling with the cable where it goes into the new card. Pull it out a bit. Twist it, so on.

 

Try plugging headphones into it.

You ARE going to need speakers and an amplifier, as the card won't have a speaker amp on it, only an amp to bring it up to line level. the voltages needed by a speaker amplifier wouldnt be available inside a computer.