The Device Cannot Start

[lokfreek]

Hello,
I'm new.  My speakers are not working.  In fact the audio isn't working at all. I tried going the official route through Sony (out of warranty ) to help me and the Knowledge Article C304529 that they gave me did not resolve my problem.  i tried every step but the last because the computer has recently be reformatted. I am hoping someone might be able to push me in the right direction.

I am using a Sony PCVRX730 with XP Pro that belonged to my sister.   It had a virus. She got a friend to clean it. She gave the computer to me.   I loaded the driver from Sony for the audio and got this message :  "the device cannot start" also another time "cannot install this hardware an error occured" and "the name is already in use as either a service name or a service name display."

When in the control panel, in sounds and devices, volume...it says "no audio device." Under the audio tab...everything is greyed out and nothing is clickable.

I cannot tell if I have just dug a deeper hole or if I am just hovering all around the problem and cannot see it.  I am a relative newbie in this computer world.  Thank you for any guidance.

-lokfreek

[Perfect Agent52]

For some odd reason, the speakers may not be compatible with the computer. Are you 100% sure that the person who cleaned the virus got it all? Where they working on the computer at any point at all?

[Fed]

Check in your bios to make sure the onboard sound is enabled.
If it still doesn't work use your Device manager to remove all the sound entries & reboot.
Windows will/should detect the sound device & install drivers for you.
If it still doesn't work you will need to download drivers or install the ones you have.
Use Everest to find out exactly what your sound device is.
http://www.comcen.com.au/~fed/everest.zip
One step at a time, keep us updated.