Optical sound card problems

Hello,
I have purchased a speedlink stage 7.1 PCI sound card. I have sound coming from my computer speakers so that is great but i have no sound via optical cable on my surround system (the reason why i brought the sound card). Please can anyone give me any knowledge of if there is something i should be doing or if this sound card is capable of playing through normal PC speakers AND my seperate surround speaker system. Any help would be greatly appreciated as i'm pulling my hair out (what little i have)

yes, you can purchase a Y cord, to split the signal...line audio level...wired connection..
or double click the speaker icon on the lower right of the desktop...
can you find audio control software for the mother board, sound card?
did you go all thru, to look for optical control settings?
when you load drivers for the card (or have you?), is the antivirus turned off? do you have multiple security programs running?

the only instructions we can get are what is posted in the manufacturer's website.
there is a quick install guide.
it says.. after loading the CD into the drive and installing the drivers and software, click on start/control panel/sounds and audio devices.
'make the desired adjustments under the AUDIO tab'

and that is a little bit confusing because the install guide says the CD installs software.

i would suggest clicking start/programs and look through the list of programs for the new soundcard software that was supposedly installed.
if you find such software, you can take a screenshot of the program by pressing the 'print screen' button on the keyboard.
then go to start/programs/accessories/paint
open the paint program and select 'edit' from the menu list.
then select 'paste' from the edit dropdown menu.
save the picture and upload it to one of the photo hosting websites.

we can then take a look at what options are available to help you turn on/off the optical outputs.

i mean.. the soundcard has optical outputs to use a fiberoptic cable to the receiver.
but it also has S/PDIF which is the copper version of digital signal communication.
the alternative digital connection might be a last resort before you send the soundcard back .. IF you are willing to keep the card while it is refusing to turn on the optical output.

personally.. if i bought a soundcard and it has optical output, it should work or i'd send it back.