i figured out how to fix it.
after doing quite a bit of searching online i came across a site that walked me through changing my drivers.
what i did:
download the current drivers from manufaturer
go to device manager
click on the + for sound
right click on the sound card and uninstall (be sure to check the box to delete the drivers)
restart the computer
after the restart, install the current drivers for the soundcard
it will use the current drivers instead of those installed with Win 7 (since you deleted the win7 drivers)
should be working now.
here is the link of the site i used to fix the problem:
Update: Fix your sound issues in Windows Vista | Vista Rewired