Whenever I play any media, using any media player, and any codec pack, the sound drops out completely (for all apps, and for windows), usually after pausing the song or video. Logging off and on always brings the sound back (I even hear the logoff sound), but it's gone again as soon as I play any media.
I recently switched to Vista Home Prem 32 (clean install from OEM disc). Windows update automatically downloaded what appears to be the correct driver for SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio on my Intel D865PERL board. Intel provides no Vista audio drivers for my board at their download centre.
I upgraded my video card as well (NVIDEA GEFORCE 7600 GS OC), a day after installing Vista for the first time. Prior to this I had a very old card (32 MB) running a low version of DirectX. I think I didn't have this problem under that configuration, but I only ran it for a day, and wasn't playing much media, so I could have missed it. Could DirectX 10 be responsible?
I'm out of ideas. Any help is appreciated!