Happened a couple of weeks ago.
System Details:
HP Pavilion Entertainment PC
Model: dv6904ca
RAM: 3GB
HD: 300GB SATA
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit
Laptop was working normally when all of a sudden the sound disappeared.
The OS does not even see the audio HARDWARE.
To be clear, when I am in Device Manager there is no Sound object listed.
When I do a refresh and order it to search for new hardware, nothing is found.
If I attempt to install the latest audio driver for this system the response is "Could not find MEDIA for this device".
I have attempted a System Restore to a point a full MONTH before the problem occurred, but it had no effect.
I noted that the BIOS was out-of-date and updated that; no effect.
There is no option in the BIOS to enable or disable the sound hardware.
It is as though the hardware itself has been removed, but as this is a laptop, that cannot have happened.
I have searched for and found other posts in these forums surrounding the same "No audio device", but none of the solutions there are applicable to me...and most seem to surround reinstalling a driver.
BTW, I've also attempted to reinstall the Windows High Definition Audio Driver UUA with no effect.
I've tried both Realtek and Conexant drivers.
I've tried the HP system update tool too, but it found nothing to update (which couldn't be true, btw, because the BIOS was out-of-date when I ran that, and it didn't find that issue).
I'm about to back everything up and reinstall the OS from scratch, but if anyone has any ideas they can help me out with in the next 48hrs I'd appreciate it.