1) Determine what sound card you have (
Everest Home edition is a good 'un)
2) If it's not a Creative* then go to manufacturers site and download latest drivers to the desktop.
3) Reboot system and start in safe mode - when it beeps start tapping F8 until you get the startup menu,use the arrow keys to choose "safe mode" and hit enter
4) Click Start > Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device manager. If there are any question marks on the list Right click and Uninstall. If there's anything under "Sound, video and Game controllers" click the plus, Right click and remove everything from there.
5) Reboot
6) When Windows starts cancel all attempts to "Search for new drivers",
7) once it's thrown it's little spat double click on the drivers you've downloaded. Follow the instructions.
8) test.
*If it's a creative then follow to step 6, go to Creative.com, click support then choose "Software autoupdate". Allow it to run Java apps and what have you. Grab a coffee.
If the above doesn't work then....
9) If you have a separate soundcard (the sockets run horizontally) then take the side off your PC and move the card to a different socket and retry the above. If it still doesn't work then it may be hosed, check 11
10) If the soundcard is integrated into the motherboard then a full reinstall of windows may fix it or check 11
11) You can pick up a separate for
$25 and change
