No audio device is installed (typical solutions don't work)

hey all,

i've just about had it with this issue. i had audio working great, until i tried to install new creative drivers for my audigy SE (basically a live 24-bit..). anyway, after i installed those drivers, i realized i needed to delete a certain entry in a registry (forget which one ). so next bootup, my problem began. vista claims that "no audio device is installed" in sound manager, although Device manager reports all as well . I decided to rule out a driver error, attempting to use my onboard audio (realtek azala audio ALC 889A). i made sure to go into safe mode, use driver cleaner pro, and delete all of my creative files. a strange thing i noticed is that the entry "sound blaster audigy" is still present in the "uninstall programs" app. anyway, the new device drivers installed successfully, and i'm sure of it after countless attempts. i'm not sure, but i think the problem is emerging from a missing codec/ some sort of missing media file from vista (i might have deleted an important file, too bad i can't recall which one i deleted )

any help would be great

bump ..

by the way, a possible fix i was thinking of was if there's a way to restore vistas default codecs and audio properties somehow, without a clean install. if this problem isn't fixed this weekend, i guess ill just reinstall

Welcome to the wonderful world of owning a Creative sound card! While Creative loves to blame MS... it's usually their drivers that are the problem.

Man, I personally probably won't buy creative anymore. Besides, why should I when my gigabyte board has HD sound outputs?