System does not see sound device

When I boot up I have no sound. The Sounds and Audio Devices Property show "No Device Installed ". Device manager shows the device working properly. I must then go to Device manager and un-install the driver for the Realtek AC97 Audio. Then go to add hardware. This will reinstall the driver and the system works. If I want sound I must do this each time I start the machine.

Items I have tried:
Reinstalled the Audio Codecs
Reinstalled the Specialized PCD WDM VBI Codec.
Installed all the latest drivers
Update Win XP on a regular basis
Use two spyware tools
I have Norton Internet Security installed and updated daily
Please assume my machine is totally up to date.

Any info would be helpful. I have been working with the Gigabyte people and they want me to send the MOBO back for repair but I get the feeling this is a software problem.

 

Nola,

Sounds like you have tried many of the basic things to solve this problem, so you're headed in the right direction. In my experience, sound hardware and drivers are often the sources of all sorts of problems from the crashing of programs, to lock up of games, to random reboots of Windows itself. The message boards over the years have been filled with all sorts of problems and solutions. Haven't heard of this particular one before, and believe me, I've had my share of issues in the past when building systems!

In your case, based on what you're writing, I'm assuming you're using the on-board sound of your motherboard? Do you know what motherboard you have? And what other devices make up your machine? If you don't mind listing out your components, that might help.

In the meantime, in addition to what you've already tried, I'd try the following two options:

1) Go to your motherboard manufacturer's website and download the latest drivers for your model's onboard sound. You may have already done this, but if not, this could be an answer because manufacturers often have stuff tweaked for their own boards. If there are other things like the BIOS that you need to update, grab those files while you're there, too.

2) Also try completely uninstalling every sound device, driver, any additional sound-related utilities,etc, completely and then shut down the machine all the way (not a warm re-boot). Then restart your computer and let Windows find the drivers and install them. See if it properly does all that and you reboot to a working configuration.

My guess is that the answer is relatively simple. Just a matter of finding which files are creating the problem.