After installing XP Pro on my new Dell Inspiron 531S I've been having trouble getting sound. I installed the Realtek HD audio driver that came with the driver disk from Dell and there was no sound (I can't remember if i did this before or after the SP3 and other updates). I tried unistalling the Realtek drivers and installing them again with no success. I thought the soundcard was a dud. But then i tried an older version of the driver, 1.84, and disabling and enabling the sound device, and then the sound appeared. Success !
Then after I installed divx and some sound codecs for a troublesome .avi file the sound disappeared (Codec Pack All in 1 6.0.3.0 and AC3 filter pack). The retry of the older, and newer Realtek drivers didn't work this time around.
I'm hoping a kind soul out there knows where to point me. I thank you all in advance for taking the time to read this post and for any tips you might have.
Neil