5.1 Center and Rear Speaker Sounds Come from Subwoofer

Alright, this issue has been solved. After getting a replacement card and trying it out the problem was the same. I took out each cable in turn starting with the power on the sub. When I plugged that back in the speakers worked again for about 10 seconds. I dug out a new power cable and replaced it...the sound-card and speakers work like a champ.

I've never seen a cable go bad like that without any damage but I wanted to post this solution in case anyone else searches for an answer and didn't think of a bad power cable. I figured the cord could be loose etc but not actually 'gone bad' *shrugs* Maybe this will help someone who's racking their brain like I was. Have a good day

Morning all,

This post will be long, but I have tried numerous fixes and this problem is persistent.

I have a Creative X-Fi Platinum card (Model number SB0460), it's approximately four years old as I bought it with my last PC (Windows XP) . According to Creative's website, this model is supported in Windows 7. (http://support.creative.com/KB/showarticle.aspx?sid=61105&h=13)

Two days ago I had just finished configuring my new PC (Windows 7 64bit) and installed the necessary drivers for the sound card. At that time everything worked just fine. I could hear sounds from all 5 speakers and subwoofer separately.

Last night however, I could only receive sound from the front left/right speakers and the other three speakers' sounds came muffled from the subwoofer. I had changed nothing in the audio software itself and the problem occurred after starting and then exiting Civilization V. While this game was running the speakers were operating correctly. This issue would happen in the old PC as well on occasion and the fix was simple, either unplug and replug the jacks back into the sound card/sub and if that didn't work uninstall and reinstall the drivers. Inconvenient but functional.

This time however there was no such luck, I have reset all the cords and I have reinstalled all the 'stable' drivers and programs three times. I currently am working with the newest beta drivers from Creative released a few days ago but it does not change anything regarding this issue.
Current Creative Driver Info:
Version 6.0.1.1375
Date 8/22/2011

In regard to the sound card ports and plugs:
Plugging the green cord into its proper port allows me to hear the sound from the proper FL/FR speaker when tested.
Plugging the green cord into the orange port allows me to hear the center speaker test sound from the center speaker when tested.
Plugging the green cord into the black port allows me to hear the test audio for the rear speakers on the corresponding side's front speaker.
Plugging in either the black or the orange plugs into their proper ports by themselves results in either the aforementioned problem of having their sound redirected to the subwoofer or simply not audible.
Plugging in the black or orange plug into the other ports results in either the aforementioned problem of having their sound redirected to the subwoofer or simply not audible.

The Creative Console settings include:
CMSS-3D Enabled Surround (Neither Stereo Xpand nor Surround change anything)
X-Fi Crystilizer Enabled
Speakers: 5.1 Speakers
Enabled Bass Redirect 80Hz

Regarding the Windows 7 settings:
Speaker setup is set to the 5.1 option.
When testing the sounds from that sound setup menu I still get sounds from the FL/FR speakers but nothing at all from the speakers and no subwoofer redirect that I can hear.
When I play Windows sounds (ex: default beep etc.) from the menu or when the Windows start-up sound plays it emits from the center speaker albeit at a lower volume than the noises coming from the other two front speakers for any other sounds.

The on board Realtek Audio has been both enabled and disabled to no effect.

This has become a truly maddening problem and if it sounds confusing I apologize because I can't nail down where the source of this problem is located. If it is a driver compatibility problem, if the sound card is (and subsequently) always has been faulty, or something else entirely. Any and all advice is appreciated.

If this is determined to be a matter of needing a new sound card what would you suggest as a replacement? PC gaming is my hobby and sound is important to me for that experience. I've never used anything but Creative cards but would certainly be open to any new brand with a better track record or quality etc.

If you've made it this far but are stumped like me, thanks for reading anyway.
If you've made it this far and have some different advice thanks for it and I'll be giving it a try.
If you've made it this far and come up with a solution for this problem you'll get an internet cookie, flavor is your choice.