Sound Problems wid Vista

I had recently upgraded my system from a Windows XP Pro(32 bit) to a Vista Ultimate(64 bit). After installation i am facing the following problems:

1) When i plug my Logitech Z-560 4.1 Surround Sound to my system, i cannot hear any sounds from the rear speakers. Even after going to control panel nad sounds and setting it to quadraphonic sound setup, and can hear that the wizard has detected the rear speakers, there is still no sound from the rear speakers wheever i play any mp3, movies etc. I can however hear sounds from the rear speakers if i enable Sonic Focus on my SoundMax BlackHawk (ver 1.0.0038), but i do not like enabling the option as it makes all the sounds kinda echoey.

2) When i plug my microphone to the front jack and speak, i can hear myself through the speakers. The same happens when i connect a headset. I can hear myself talking through the headset when ever i say anything. There used to be a setting on my SoundMax when i was using Windows XP, but cant seem to find the same setting on my SoundMax BlackHawk in Vista.

I am using an ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi-AP motherboard with an AMD Phenom 9950 quad core processor.

Any help would be appreciated.

i tried what u suggested....i muted and even disable the microphone using the vista sound utility....but still the same

infact...wen i mute my microphone and say somthing into the mic, i can still hear myself

well since its the front panel i have only 2 points for audio....one is a green point and the other is a pink point, i pretty much put it into that point . And since my sound controller is SoundMax, any time i plug any cable into any point, it will detect the device and let me know if i have plugged in a right cable or not.

u can have a look at the case here http://www.silverstonetek.com/prod [...] 1&area=usa

these are the screenies i took of the vista sound controller

and the funny thing is that in the first pic u can see that the mic is working, even though i have not connected my mic yet

i tried wat u suggested. but even though i have muted it in the "levels" tab, and wen i speak into the microphone, i can still hear myself