Thanks guys ... this is why I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! ....
S-G, yes the sub is powering the sats ...
I didn't discuss all the 'tests' DELL walked me through, but the tech last night had me remove and reinstall the sound card drivers last night, to no avail ...
The cable hook-ups on this system are pretty much 'idiot' proof, even for me ... the sat cable plugs going into the sub are not only color coded, but also have little 'tags' on them that do not permit you to plug them into the wrong port ... on the sound card the ports are color coded, yellow, black and light green, matching the three cables from the sub, and all 3 plugs are in the right color.

Surprisingly, DELL did NOT tell me to try it with another system, such as the walkman ... I'll try that when I get home.
There is an 'adapter' plug that came with the spkr set for use with an "intergrated" system (one input into the PC tower), that has three female ends for the three (yellow, black, green) sub plugs, going to one male end. To hook up the walkman, I assume I would use the adapter, plugging the 3 cables from the sub into the adapter, and the male end of the adapter into the headphone jack on the walkman, right?
thnx agn,
t.