Problem solved.......... thanks for everyone who tried to help

are u connecting into line out should work straight out, unless the amp you are connecting to in not i auxillary or whatever it spose to be in then ya should have no problems.. also with the later sorta onboard sound card drivers you can actually promote certain ports to certain applications so just check it from there should be a icon on your task bar other then that or a faulty cable there is not much more

the speakers (boston acoustic) requires digital output and the only digital output on my onboard audio is in RCA form.

the other 3.5mm jacks (front, rear, sub, etc....) are analogue so i can't plug my speakers into any of those.

what really puzzles me is why i can't plug a 3.5mm on one end and RCA the other together, does the cable itself (off the shelf product btw) changes the signal somehow?

btw. my SPDIF supports both analogue & digital output.