HP 2009m speakers not working

Ugh, I switched from Vista to 7 and now my built-in monitor speakers aren't working. I've tried drivers for the sound. I've tried reinstalling the monitor drivers. I have checked and rechecked that I'm plugged into the right jack, cables are connected, etc. They were working in Vista (still work if I boot into it), just not in 7.

I think the problem is the speakers just aren't even listed in playback devices. The HP support site is no help (leading me in circles).

Please help, I'm going a little batty.

Yes, disabled devices are showing. The speakers just aren't there. I keep scanning for hardware changes and there just seems to be no way to force windows to pick them up.

What kind of connection does the monitor speakers have? Is that connection fully seated on both ends - from the monitor to the back of the PC. I know on my old HP 19 inch monitor it has a 3.5mm speaker jack and for the speakers on the monitor to work I had to use the green 3.5mm cable. Again, it plugs into the back of PC.

thanks, bassfisher, yes - the 3.5mm cable is properly connected to both the speaker and the back of the pc.

A Guy - that tool was really helpful. Helped me see that the computer was thinking my sound card was a manufactured by Microsoft. I knew that wasn't right so I booted back into Vista and checked the properties there. I found out the sound card is by Via Technologies so now I'm grabbing drivers from there and hoping that works. I was assuming it was Realtek, should have checked first. :P

Well, THAT's embarrassing. That was the problem - I have speakers again.

thanks for your help.