BleepingComputer.com: no sound - no performance and maintainence in control panel

It started when the computer(dell vostro 1500 w/ windows xp home) wasn't playing sounds except for the loud BOOP! -- in the sound properties, it says there's no audio device, but all the hardware codecs claim to be working properly-- after some circles in troubleshooting i find out that my control panel doesn't have a "performance and maintainence" window --- when I tried to get online to figure more out... the wireless network claims to be working but there was no IP address- after using command prompt to try and reset it to no avail-- then went into the properties of internet protocol(tcp/ip)-- no auto reset -- i set the ip to 111.111.111.111 (it was 0.0.0.0) and the subnet 255.0.0.0-- restarted- then tried to do the auto reset-(no go)

i finally got onto this mac to find my actual ip (192.168.1.1-subnet 255.255.255.0) and put that in mine - no go

the problems don't seem viral so much as something is "missing"
I also feel that these problems are interrelated because they all came up at the same time
somethings telling me I need to bust out my windows cds but I first came to the land of gurus to make sure its not a simple fix that i just don't know about

MUCH LOVE!
and much appreciation