Rampage IV Extreme with Logitech Z906 no sound

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EDIT * - Resolved see post #2 below with questions:

Had a creative works 7.1 system connected a couple years ago, sub got blown out by lightning so changed to USB bose companion speakers. Just hooked up Logitech Z906 5.1 and I'm not getting anything except a blip of static every few second from the center speaker.

Standard sound card cable used green to green, black to black, yellow to orange. Enabled the setting in bios for ac97 and installed realtek drivers 6.0.1.7829 . No idea what else to try using the realtek high definition audio and tried changing to strero or 7.1 but getting nothing sound wise other than a blip from the center speaker every so often.

Running asus Rampage iv extreme with windows 10 64 bit. Tried different bit rates in the properties with no difference. The Z906 only makes sound when on input 1 with nothing else lit up. I thought it needed to be on AUX but even then still not getting anything.

Anyone have ideas?

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I thought maybe my realtek on board soundcard went back, so went and bought an optical cable plugged it and and everything is working fine now. I have logitech z906 speakers and use this system only for gaming so these questions are related specifically to that, not listening to music or anything else.

1) Because the optical cable works does that mean analog is broken on my on board soundcard or with asus rampage IV extreme and logitech z906 is optical the only way a digital signal can go through?

2) Is optical going to be a better sound experience over analog on this setup or will it not really matter to my ear

3) Should I invest in a sound blaster Z, again would it make any difference over the optical and on-board sound only for gaming?

4) How can I connect my buttkicker to this system now that I'm using spdif/optical

Thanks