Mitragorz

The device is a Creative SB Audigy 2 (WDM). My machine is a Dell Dimension XPS Gen 3 running Windows XP Pro.

I just reinstalled windows after not having done a reformat on this machine in almost five years. The install had some hang-ups, but I was able to work through them and get it done successfully.

Right away, I noticed my sound wasn't working, so I updated the drivers (the Device Manager showed a yellow ! and ? next to "Multimedia Audio Controller" under "Other Devices) by right-clicking that and choosing "Update Drivers." That worked, the sound was fixed. I proceeded to install the rest of the drivers. After the other drivers were finished installing, I noticed the sound was gone. I disabled the device, then enabled it again, but that didn't fix it. I wound up uninstalling the device completely and clicking "Scan for Hardware Changes" in Device Manager. This caused the yellow ! and ? to return next to "Multimedia Audio Controller." I followed the same steps as I did before (updated the drivers), but this time I was prompted to restart the computer to finish the install. I did that, and upon restart the sound was still absent. Sound fixed this time for good? I thought so... I shut down my machine for the night.

The next morning I booted up, and I again had no sound (see a trend here?) So, I uninstalled AGAIN and followed the same uninstall / reinstall steps. This time I was NOT prompted to restart and the sound works fine.

I need to do this every time I restart my machine. Sometimes, I can hear the first two or three notes of the "Welcome" music before the sound suts out.

This problem does not occur when I put the somputer into "Stand By" mode.

Any ideas as to what might be causing this? I suppose I can put the PC into Stand By mode instead of shutting down, but it's going to bug me know that my machine has a problem somewhere.

Thanks,
Nick