Sound Problems....help!

A couple of weeks ago I updated to SP3.
This is when my problems started. As soon as the update installed my computer started freezing up.
Just clicking on an icon on my desktop would freeze it up to where I had to shut down.
This went on a few days and then one day it froze up, so I shut down and restarted, this time it was just like it was locked up. So restarted again and this time got the blue screen of death....
Well I had to completely restore it. Lost everything!!! :bnghd:

Since I restored it I am having a problem with the sound. There is no sound say if I watch a video on youtube. But if I play a game I have sound.
So I have to shut down and as soon as it is starting up I have to go into the bios. Now I dont do anything in the bios, change any settings or anything I just bring it up on the menu. Go out of the bios and let it restart and then I have sound. What is going on and how can I fix this?
I get tired of doing this everytime I start my computer.....
It is a dell dimesion 8110.......XP OS
I have not installed the SP3 this time cause Im afraid it will lock up on me again............

Oh and when I go to control panel and go under sounds and devices it says I have no sound device. But after going into the bios and then going to the sound device properties , under audio tab it says:Modem #0 line playback, I click on the drop down and then it will show SoundMax Digital Audio, I click this and then check the bottom box to set this to default.
But this is just a repeat everytime I start up..

You have to save any changes in the BIOS before exiting it.

Secondly. Do you have any problems with the computer clock? That could indicate a low BIOS battery - in which case it would not keep any settings after shut down.

[edit on 18/11/08 by YourForever]

Definitely check on that CMOS battery. First make sure your date and time are correct. Next, power down, and unplug your machine from the outlet. And, if you have a laptop, also pull out the battery pack.

Let it sit for maybe 30 minutes or so. Just an amount of time. Really, if the CMOS battery is toast I don't think it takes long at all to lose date and time settings. But I guess the amount of time needed depends on how weak the battery is, so maybe it would be best to let it sit for a while. Plug everything back up. Power it up, and check the date and time and see if they are still set correctly.

Or before you go to bed just let it sit all night unplugged and see if the setting stay where they are supposed to. That way you would be more likely to find that failing battery that isn't quite dead.

The CMOS battery is pretty easy to find on a desktop. Just look for the watch battery.

With laptops it could be a little bit more difficult to find, but not necessarily hard. Gateway made a "great" model where the CMOS was located on the back side of the motherboard. Let me tell you, it was an adventure finding this thing. There may have been an easier way to it, but I didn't know about it. I had that crazy thing taken almost completely apart, before I flipped over the motherboard and found it. Cheers! Not to discourage you, most of the time they aren't that hard to find.

Troy