Audio Problems - Realtek ALC 882, Windows 7 Ultimate x32

The audio works perfectly fine in Windows XP, but not in Windows 7. The problem is, I cannot hear anything when I connect my earphones to the front jack. I just get VERY quiet audio through my left earphone, and nothing at all in the right one. I have tried everything - from the stickies to things I've found while browsing this forum, but nothing is working.

I have integrated audio - Realtek ALC 882. I have installed the latest drivers from both Realtek sites (realtek.com.tw and realtek.cz), but they didn't help. I have tried the pin registry hacks (Pin00, Pin14, and Pin1b) to 04 00 00 00, but nothing happened. I have fiddled with various settings (unticked "enable jack detection", set Onboard Audio to Enabled in the bios, set Stereo Mixer to default playback device), but none of them did anything.

I am at my wit's end here. Really, I will appreciate any suggestions (even obvious ones) at this point. I just want the sound to work!

The big problem is compatibility with Vista/Windows 7. HP does not have sound drivers for Vista or Windows 7, thus it is not supported. Non vendor (non HP) drivers may or may not work.

I used to do a lot of support on the Dell users forum and there were Dell's that were the same way - XP systems that Dell did not support for Vista/Windows 7. In those cases users were installing separate PCI sound cards that were Windows 7 compatible. You may have to do the same thing.

Vista/Windows 7 handles some audio functions differently than XP and the reason XP drivers are not compatible.

Hmm, but "replacing hardware" seems like a drastic measure to take... It feels like I'm conceding defeat. I want to at least try to get the onboard audio working...

Nevertheless, I have been planning on getting a sound card even before I installed Windows 7. If I had to take the last resort and get a sound card, what would you suggest (brands, models, etc.)?

Unfortunately some older hardware is not supported by newer operating systems. Some of it just is not compatible and some of it hardware vendors have decided not to support. A PC that was designed for Windows XP can be very old (in computer terms) and bottom line, PC vendors are in the business of selling new PC's, not prolonging forever support for older hardware.

How much do you want to spend for a sound card? or how do you want to use it? e.g. if you want 7.1 surround sound that type of card is going to cost more. Also, if you only have older PCI slots in the PC that will limit you somewhat on sound cards. Look over the offerings at www.newegg.com I have an older PC that has an HT Omega "Striker 7.1" PCI type sound card. It works very good. Most of the new model SoundBlaster Xfi line is PCIe - another hardware obsolesence as the PCI bus has been replaced by PCIe. New motherboards that have PCI slots are not "native" PCI slots but just "bridged" from the PCIe bus and some PCI cards will not work in these "bridged" PCI slots.