Asus P8P67 surround sound issues

[SNKAFC]

I built a rig over the summer with an ASUS P8P67 motherboard. I use the optical audio out on the motherboard to connect to my home entertainment center. Up until now I've used this only to watch Blu Rays and the surround sound has been perfect. With the release of Battlefield 3 I wanted to try the surround sound out in a game, however I only get the front 3 channels and the sub, the rear two speakers aren't even illuminated on my receiver's display when playing the game. I tried several other games that should have surround sound (Metro 2033, Crysis 2, Space Marine, Witcher 2) and none put our rear channel sound through the optical audio out. I'm hesitant to buy a sound card because the audio works just find with Blu Rays and DVDs. Any ideas on how to get full surround sound for games as well? Let me know if you need the fulls specs of the machine or if there is any other helpful information I can offer. I'm not too knowledgeable about sound issues so I'm a bit in the dark on this one.

 

[Tmagic650]

"I'm hesitant to buy a sound card"...

This is just what you might have to do. Install a good quality add-on sound card. It will give you many more sound options and settings over on-board sound