Vista - audio device on high definition audio bus issues

Alright, so randomly the audio just stopped working on this dell inspiron
e1405. it has recently been converted back to windows xp from linux, but it
worked fine for a couple days after i got it back. now, everytime i reboot
the computer the "found new device hardware" pops up and instructs you to
find a driver. the automatic comes up with the IDT high definition audio
codec, but when installed it tells me that it is unable to start. the
troubleshooting guide tells me to uninstall and try again. i did this 2 times
then i downloaded realtek's high definition codec and manually applied it to
the audio device on high definition audio bus, and the same thing happens and
it says it is unable to start. i've read some posts here and it says to do a
system restore, which would be great except when i went to do it a dialog box
popped up telling me that i had, had system restore shut off. thus, nothing
to restore. i just want the sound on my lap top to work...does anyone have
any advice?

thank you so much!

"tashahayes" <tashahayes@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:C5191753-E176-48B1-9134-994895D92D55@newsgroupAsking your Windows question in this discussion group for .NET programming
issues is unlikely to be fruitful.
Try this to locate an appropriate group.

As you appear to be using a web interface, visit this page:

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/

In the tree on the left, open English, then open Windows. In the
Windows subcategory, find and open the subcategory for Windows XP, and
find a group there for your post.