Sound crashes after upgrading to windows 7 from vista

I just recently upgraded to Windows 7 from Vista. Before upgrading, everything was fine. Now, I have a rather annoying sound problem. When I play anything that uses flash, the program will freeze up and have to be ended. After this point, the sound on my computer is completely gone until I restart the system. Additionally, I cannot access the volume control panel or anything that deals with the sound settings after this particular event occurs. I've been doing a little bit of research, and it sounds like the IDT sound codec is the problem.
I followed the instructions on this link to a point.
Fixing Flash Crashes after Windows 7 Upgrade: IDT Sound Codec Conflicts with Flash Drivers Causing Crashes | Suite101.com
Here are the instructions that it gives:
Disabling Software at Boot:

Click on the Start button, and then click 'Run…'
In the Run window, type msconfig and click 'OK'.
Go to the ‘Startup’ tab and locate the Startup Item named IDT PC Audio by IDT, Inc.
Uncheck the IDT PC Audio item.
Click 'Apply', and then click 'OK'.
Reboot the laptop for the change to take effect.
Disabling Enhancements:

Click on the Start button, then click Control Panel, and click 'Sound' from the context menu.
Highlight 'Speakers / Headphones' from the list of playback devices, then click on the 'Properties' button.
Go to the 'Enhancements' tab, and check the checkbox labeled 'Disable all enhancements'.
Click 'Apply', and then click 'OK'.
Highlight 'Independent (R.T.C.) Headphones' from the list of playback devices, then click on the 'Properties' button.
Go to the 'Effects' tab, and check the checkbox labels 'Disable System Effects'.
Click 'Apply', and then click 'OK'.
Click 'OK'.

My problem with following these instructions is that I do not have 'Independent (R.T.C.) Headphones' in the list of playback devices. The four playback devices that I have listed are 'Digital Output Device (HDMI)', 'Speakers and Dual Headphones', 'Independent Dual Headphones' and 'SPDIF (Digital Out via HP Dock)'. That being the case, I cannot disable the last portion of the IDT sound codec. As a result, my problem persists. I was wondering if anyone knows how to get around this. Would it be wise to just uninstall the idt sound codec altogether? And if so, how would I do this?
My computer is the HP Pavillion dv7-2185dx Entertainment Notebook PC

I really hope someone here can help me. I am pretty much unable to view anything that uses flash or play any music because of this problem. And please do not recommend uninstalling/reinstalling flash because I have done so at least half a dozen times already.

Addition: 'Independent Dual Headphones' do not have an enhancement tab, therefore I cannot just apply the instructions there

Could you fill in the "My System Specs". That would help.

Since you upgraded from Vista to Windows 7, do you actually have the later IDT sound device or do you have the older SigmaTel sound device? With SOME older SigmaTel devices, the newer IDT drivers do not work or work properly. Are you using the same Vista sound drivers? if not give them a try.