Problems with sound since re-install

I'll start at the beginning;

Two weeks ago I upgraded to Zone Alarm Xtreme Security - it failed to install properly and I lost internet and email - broadband connection was unaffected.

I called in a geek - never had to do this before - to help. He tried doing a restore, twice, but it failed both times. So he re-installed Vista Home Premium, and all was well. Except that I had no sound. Didn't realise that to start with. When I did realise I just thought the speakers weren't plugged in. Left it for a while.

I came to plug them in and they already were. I have done all the necessary diagnostics with Dell and Microsoft with no luck. Everything shows as working correctly. Is it just that my speakers happened to fail at the same time? Or can there be something else?

Any help would be appreciated!

It sounds like he didn't reinstall the drivers. Please provide more info on your computer such as make/model. Please run our hardware scan and post back the link.

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I did reinstall the driver as soon as I realised the speakers were plugged in. And looked for updates. I checked in Device Management and all shows as working correctly.

I am unable to post a link as I have fewer than 5 posts!

Member's Hardware scan:
My guess is that they are trying to prevent spammers from creating an account just to create advertisements. I did not know that they did that.

Right click on my computer/computer --> manage --> Event Viewer --> Windows Logs --> System. Look for entries with an X. Please tell me what the most common entries are.

Also click on the start menu, type in services.msc, give Vista permission to open it up if prompted scroll down, find Windows Audio, and Windows Audio Endpoint Builder and make sure that they are set for Automatic start up and that they are running. You might need to double click on either to change the settings if it doesn't say both. Please let me know how that goes.

Second part done, all OK, showing automatic startup and running.

First Part, I have Event Viewer, then Overview and Summary with three sections;
Summary of Administrative Events,

Recently viewed nodes,

and Log Summary, where Windows apps are listed, but no System. Sorry I'm a complete beginner at navigating through these areas.

Ok so just look in the summary of administrative events.

Instead of a red cross I have a red circle with white ! for an error.

The most frequent is

Log Name: System
Source: Service Control Manager
Date: 14/07/2009 22:44:38
Event ID: 7000
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Christine-PC
Description:
The Parallel port driver service failed to start due to the following error:
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.


Then

Log Name: System
Source: Microsoft-Windows-HttpEvent
Date: 15/07/2009 08:40:23
Event ID: 15016
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Christine-PC
Description:
Unable to initialize the security package Kerberos for server side authentication. The data field contains the error number.


Those are the only two I get except for when I didn't shut down properly.

Have you tried another set of speakers? Have you tried your speakers on another system?

Yes, I have now tried the speakers on my laptop, they work fine.

From control panel open up sounds. Right click on the white part of the window and select to unhide both disabled and disconnected devices. Make sure that everything says working. If you see something called sound tunneling make sure thats enabled and working.

If that doesn't change anything all I can think of at this point is to uninstall the drivers, install & run driver cleaner to make sure that the driver is gone [create a restore point first], and then reinstall after restarting the computer. Your problem has me confused. A decent sound blaster audio card should only be 30-40 USD. I don't like realtek. You also try going to a tech shop. There is alway reinstalling windows which we leave as a last resort.

So first try the control panel, then uninstall/reinstall, and then consider if you want to reinstall windows, take it to a tech shop, or buy a sound card. If you are going to pay to have a technician look at it you might as well buy a card. If you tell the tech that since he reinstalled windows you haven't been able to get it working and that he forgot to install the drivers, if you're lucky, maybe he won't charge you to look at it again.