Lateralus

I've been struggling with this for a long time, but I am absolutely convinced that it can be corrected without purchasing new hardware. I've narrowed it down enough by now to seek more competent help, and I think if I describe the problem with enough, someone just might know what to do.

I've owned this device for a few years now. It's served me well and I can confirm absolutely that the device itself is in perfect working order. (Proof: http://youtube.com/watch?v=elt1OheMr6s -- don't worry about what the video is, just that there is video and audio)

The problem is, near six months ago I bought a new computer. For whatever reason, this computer does not like my capture card/TV tuner. Instead of explaining it all in intricate detail, let me rundown some of the smaller details and add a little of my own "diagnosis" at the end.

First, the boring stuff.

OS: Windows XP Home'
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
RAM: 2048GB
Video: nVidia GeForce 7600 GS
Sound: Realtek HD Audio

What works:

• Video. I can see the video on-screen when I start the TV program. However, it displays a still image until I activate the "TV-on-Demand" feature. It then displays the picture normally.
• Screenshots. I can capture still images no problem.

What doesn't work:

• Sound. There is no sound no matter what I try.
• Recording. This is the major one! I could *almost* deal with no sound if I could only record. When I press the record button, nothing happens. It locks up for a second, as if it is about to start recording, and then just continues about its business.

So far, this is what I've come up with:

• When I uninstall my Realtek HD audio drivers, the recording suddenly begins to work and I no longer need to press "TV-on-Demand" for the picture to display correctly (it works from the moment I start the program).
• This leads me to believe that there is a conflict between one or more of the drivers and/or codecs involves. However, the device manager does not report any foul play.
• I've searched for alternative audio drivers, but to no avail. Realtek-certified drivers either do not work at all, or have the same problem.
• Recalling an issue with dual-core processing in Battlefront 2, I attempted to set the processor affinity to 1 processor. I knew it wouldn't work, but I also know that computers are quirky. It did nothing.
• Recently, I uninstalled my audio drivers to install the Tuner/drivers again. After I did so and attempted to reinstall my audio drivers, my volume control disappeared from the task bar (when I tried manually starting it, I was told I had no active audio mixer devices) and a new "device" appeared in the device manager: "Microsoft WINMM WDM Audio Compatibility Driver". I had no idea what it was, but it sounded like it might have something to do with my problem. I Google'd it, and the only advice I found was to uninstall it, so I did. Upon rebooting, everything returned to normal. That is, I had sound, I had volume control, and my TV no longer recorded video.
• Before you recommend uninstalling things and cleaning drivers, I have literally done all of that and in every possible order. I used Driver Cleaner PE to do so. Nothing worked.

This is all that I have gathered so far. I am under the impression that a new sound card would solve all of this, but I do not have the money right now, and I may not for some time.

I hope some of you can make more sense of this than I can, because I've tried everything I personally can think of, and to no avail.

Thanks in advance, I would really, really, really appreciate any help...

Lateralus

I think falling back to the 4th page is far enough for a bump.