Surround Sound 5.1 and Vista 64

[Echoshill]

Hello,

I have done a good bit of searching on this forum (Keywords 5.1 surround, Vista 64, no rear surround sound) and have not found a definitive answer to my question, so here goes.

System
Dell XPS, Vista 64, Realtek HD card drivers from 1.9.09, 5.1 Logitech speakers.

Background
There appears to be a rather well known issue with the rear 5.1 speakers working during test, but not in applications (rFactor, CoD4 for instance). You can fake it with the Realtek using the speaker fill option, but that is obviously NOT true surround sound.

Steps for Solution
Updated drivers, set all applicable settings for 5.1 surround, ran the test for surround sound and prayed.

Question(s)
Is this in fact a Vista problem? Are there solutions available? Will switching to a set of 7.1 speakers fix the problem or is the problem there as well.