Aha! No wonder the system was feeling poorly! I neglected to install all the drivers! The amazing thing is that I was able to run The Sims 2 (basic game) with no apparent problems!
I really like these ASUS guys. The driver for the audio installed and then popped with a picture of the audio panel, a plug pointing to the green jack, and politely asked, "What did you plug into the green jack?" It gave me a list of options and I chose "Front Speakers." That made it happy. It told me that my speakers are now properly installed.
