sound system on computer not working

I had to rerun my whole system the other day, as the computer was crashing, so I ran it no sound, just an annoying loud beep sometimes. So I reran the whole sytem again hoping that would fix it, nope.

So I started investigating, I ran everything the help section said to do, new hardware will do a halfway installation and then quit, still did not work, it said the drivers were not installed, so I went to major geeks and downloaded realtek AC'97 audio drivers and installed, I have went into the computer every way I know how and tried to reinstall the drivers but it will not work.

What do I need to do to fix it? Do I need to buy new speakers and a whole new sound system that comes with its own drivers so that I can just install a whole new sound system?

Though I have had a computer a while I am technology challenged, so if you do have a suggestion please give directions step by step as I get lost on this stuff quite easily. TIA

Firstly, do you have a sound card slotted into the motherboard, or do you use the sound device that is built into the motherboard?

Are you sure it's a realtek AC97 device?

You should have the drivers for that on your motherboards installation CD.

The loud beep you get, is it a long or short beep?

A long beep usually indicates the RAM is not fitted or not seated correctly.

Check all your connections and devices are securely in place inside the computer itself.

If all that is ok, restart your computer but press f8 as it starts to load..keep pressing it and there will be a section to allow you to start windows in safe mode if you are having problems loading windows completely.

From there run a virus scanner and spy/malware scanner too.. check your system is free of bugs.

that's a few things to help get you started on the learning process of repairing a computer. There are loads of sites online that give diagrams too..so you're never too far from help

where you rebooted your system before windows started
did it go beep beep ?
are the plugins for the speakers near the top or near the bottom of the back of the case ?

[edit on 30-6-2008 by The Utopian Penguin]

Did you try just going to the "add hardware wiz" and have it do the search for hardware that it not installed?
If you haven't, do it and then pick the option to let your OS (windows?) do a web search for the drivers.
A program that I use is called Driver Detective. It checks you sysconfig and takes you right to the website of the drivers manufacture. It downloads then for you and installs then as well.
Nice program for keeping all of your drivers up to date. Costs about $30.00

You said you redid your computer, did you reload direct x???

Believe it or not, it is not just video, but sound too!!!

That said, if you have a sound card, try putting it in another slot.

then try loading the sounddriver (are you sure you have the correct one?)