SoundBlaster 16 extremely quiet sound under WinXP

[IntelSux]

hey, I have a problem in my older computer. The sound is extremely quiet and I can't seem to make it any louder. I tried 2 different sets of speakers and I had to turn up the volume all the way and put my ear right next to the speaker just to hear a whisper quiet sound. I tried plugging them into every single plug that my soundcard has (that can output sound, that is.) (spk out and line out).. both of them are equally quiet. I checked and rechecked all my software volume settings too. All volume stuff is at 100% and not muted. Am I missing something?

I have a Sound Blaster 16 WaveEffects running under WinXP on a P3-500 with 256 megs of ram. I remember having proper sound earlier on it but I have no idea why it's doing it now.

and I already tried reinstalling the card. it didn't help.

any help would be greately appreciated

--IntelSux