Windows 7 - "Audio output device not installed", code 10, presario v3020US problem

Hello all!

So, I've just installed a fresh version of Windows 7, coming from Ubuntu 10.04. Everything seems to work smoothly, except for the little problem of having NO SOUND! I've tried everything I can think of or find anywhere on the internet, and nothing seems to be making any difference. The sound symbol on my taskbar has a little red circle with an x, and it states "No audio output device is installed". I've downloaded oodles of drivers (realtek, ones from HP, chipset driver for intel as well as the nvidia one, ricoh card reader driver, etc., all 32bit, which is what my win version is); some will install, some come up with errors, but neither seem to make any changes. Through device manager, I've disabled/enabled, uninstalled, deleted, had it check for drivers. I've used windows update to see if perhaps it had any solutions. Nothing seems to work. Does anyone have any advice/ideas I could try? If you do, please use layman's terms to get there. I'm usually very good at troubleshooting, enough to get by with few problems most of the time, but I'm not up on all the technical terms. I can include screenshots of anything if it would help. I am on a Compaq Presario V3020US notebook, with an intel centrino duo processor. I'm not completely sure of other specs, but if you know where I can find them, I shall look there. ANY help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

~Asteria

I notice you mention the chipset drivers. In most cases the chipset drivers must be installed before installing sound drivers. If you haven't installed in this order, give it a try. I've also seen cases where the install was not initially done with the correct install sequence and after many different tries, it finally will take a new/correct sequence install to get everything working. On many PC's the correct install sequence is (1) Install Windows (2) Install motherboard chipset drivers (3) Install device drivers including video, sound, ethernet, etc. The chipset drivers are key to a successful install as one of the prime things they do is define (identify) all the devices on the motherboard.

Also, it could be a BIOS problem. Make sure the audio is enabled in the BIOS. You may want to reset the BIOS and see what that does. Check the Compaq BIOS resetting procedure (on most desktops you can just Power off the PC and remove the CMOS backup battery for about 10 minutes, but that's not alway easy on a Laptop).