NO sound, Audio Codec/Audioess.dll files corrupted after SFC Scan

Hello,

I recently updated a Windows 7 service pack and while it was updating, I opened GeForce Experience to see if there was an update for my graphics driver. When I did this, my PC crashed and after it booted up, I've had no sound ever since. I've done everything I can think of. Ran scans, an SFC scan, plugged my speakers and headphones in and out of every port, etc. There's that red X at the bottom of my volume control and it just says that no speakers or headphones are plugged in. I can't even configure or set defaults in the sound panel. When I click on the volume icon, it runs a troubleshoot, asks me what sound devices I'm wanting to get help with, and when I pick speakers or headphones, it simply says that they're unplugged.

Microsoft Support said that my audio is messed up due to the conflict between Windows updating and a third party program (GeForce) being ran at the same time. As far as the sfc scan goes, I've ran it multiple times with no luck, and I've even gone into my CBS.log to find out what the problem is. Towards the end of the results, there's about a paragraph length including "Audiocodec" problems and "Audioess.dll" corrupted files. This obviously is the problem. I've attached a picture where this occurs.

I'm hoping that this can be fixed without having to buy a new copy of Windows or a new soundcard. But if that ends up being the case then I will of course.

Please help! I will be eternally grateful. As you can imagine, a PC really isn't useful without sound.

Thank you,
stigzmata

I did a system restore a couple days ago, back to the 14th, still with no luck. I've been needing to upgrade my ram, and will do so when I can. I got the program "WhoCrashed" and it detected that I had a crash and said that it was a "system thread" problem, and also stated that one of my drivers had a problem. I'm going to manually take out my sound card and put it back in tonight, to see if that would do anything.

I also appreciate you replying back to me.

I also forgot to mention that I got the blue screen of death (which was the crash itself), and WhoCrashed said volsnap.sys was one of the files corrupted.

I have Audigy SE as my sound card. RealTek is my backup. It's odd because WhoCrashed determined it wasn't a hardware problem but it seems to be the case.

I've been thinking that a reinstall of Windows would do the trick. I'll just have to buy a new copy since my friend built this PC for me.

Fireberd & MrNeeds - would you recommend manually taking out the sound card and putting it back in BEFORE buying a copy of Windows?

Unfortunately that didn't work. It's now saying that no speakers or headphones are plugged in.

Also for some odd reason whenever I try and watch a video it says "an error occured, please try again later". I'm very confused at this point.