Windows 7: Skype "can't detect my sound card"

I could use skype perfectly fine until a few days ago, where it's suddenly decided it can't detect my sound card. I've tried rebooting, tried fiddling with settings & moving the microphone's port and also updated skype to the very latest, but it still doesn't work.
Please help?

Since this is apparently a recent problem, try a System Restore back to a date when it did work. If that doesn't fix it, System Restore has an "undo" function to back out of the System Restore.

System Restore can be accessed from Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools.

Is there something else I can try? I really don't like doing system restore; as a digital artist, I am constantly editing and creating new files and don't want to lose any via system restore.

System Restore, as I noted, will not delete any user data/files. It is not a "reinstall", it's just a fallback to an earlier time.

System Restore is a Windows utility that allows a user to restore their computer data to a specific former state (known as a restore point), undoing changes made since that time. The user's personal data saved since that time (such as new files, new e-mail messages, and changes to documents) remains intact, but system changes are undone. System Restore periodically creates automatic restore points, called "system checkpoints" that protect data from unexpected problems. The utility also allows the user to create manual restore points before making any significant changes to the system, such as installing new programs or making changes to the registry

I did the system restore to about a week ago when it worked. It seem to be okay until when the PC started up again, I got this error: Image 2011-09-15 at 5.04.48 PM.png
I also found that skype had rolled back to its previous version, but that the sound card could still not be accessed. Furthermore, the restore really ****ed over Kaspersky's databases and updating them did not fix it, so I undid the restore. I got the same error again when starting the PC back up again, but Kaspersky is now fine and it seems Skype is back to the current version.

Still unable to use my microphone in skype. Also, when I try to record myself using the sound recorder in Windows, it says it is unable to find a recording device.

First of all I think that error in system restore quite often pops up when you do have conflicts with the virus software, it may be worth temporarily disabling it before you try another restore.

If you do pull off a restore and it doesn't fix the problem then I'd, undo that and move on to the two most likely other problems.

Drivers and hardware problems.

First type device manager in the smart search and open that up, find the sound card and right click, uninstall the driver. (I think you can also backup the driver from here if you want.) Then go to the manufacturer's website and track down the newest drivers.

If that doesn't work then I'd personally probably be thinking that for some reason the hardware has broken, or come partially disconnected although i think that's fairly unlikely unless you kick your computer a lot.

From that point, I'd back up and do the tedious but oddly consistently successful total reformat and reinstall of windows.

Then I'd buy a new sound card.

Hope this helps.

turns out my mic was faulty. how does that even happen? using a microsoft lifecam with built in mic now; works fine.
thanks