No Sound Output - Windows Detects no Problem!

Hi all,

First time poster... This issue has me stumped.

A week or so ago, I rebuilt my PC and have slowly been reinstalling drivers, programs etc.
I have reinstalled the sound card driver but no sound is actually being heard through my speakers, or through headphones if I plug them in.

If I am playing a movie or music, the little sound icon in the toolbar shows sound is being sent, but my ears and my speakers say otherwise. 'Sound' in Control Panel shows the same thing, with Speakers the default device and shown to be working fine.

Troubleshooting done so far:
- reinstalled the Realtek Audio driver about half a dozen times to no avail.
- uninstalled the driver from Device Manager, and reinstalled it after a reboot - no difference made.
- reinstalled the driver in Safe Mode too - still no difference.
- enabled both HD and AC97 audio in BIOS on two seperate reboots - no difference made
- confirmed the speakers do work by plugging into another computer & phone

The motherboard I have is an Asus PBH61. I've attached a screenshot of my sound setup as well as Device Manager. Ignore the yellow exclamation item, I've since fixed it.

If I turn the volume up on the speakers, I can hear crackling & distortion.

Any help would be much appreciated - pulling my hair out at this one!

How about a headset? Have you tried a headset, in the case front panel headset jack and/or in the rear GREEN speaker jack? Or plug the speakers into the Headset jack and see if you get sound.