No audio, playback, recording devices

I have lost my audio, playback, recording devices. I was experiencing trouble, went to add/remove programs and found Realtek AC 97 change or remove. I clicked on it to see what I could change, only there was no option to change! It promptly uninstalled the item. Also, oddly, in Start>All Programs>Accessories>Entertainment>it is empty! The little volume icon is gone from the bottom of my screen too. I have no sound.

Steps I have taken. I searched MajorGeeks and tried downloading the Realtek drivers. THen I found http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showpost.php?p=1231476&postcount=2 and tried it.

I now have several files in Programs>Realtek, but no apparent way to activate them. The last thing I tried was this from TechSupport Forum, it was a response to a similar problem:

Let's try this.
Boot into safe mode and go into device manager. Right click on and uninstall each of the following:
Audio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers
Legacy Video Capture Drivers
Media Control Devices
Realtek AC'97 Audio For VIA (R) Audio Controller
Video Codecs
and anything else that my be listed under sound devices. Also click on "View", "Show hidden devices" and see if there are any exclamation marks. If so, uninstall them also and reboot into normal mode. Windows will detect the devices and automatically reinstall them.

I had all but the Realtek item in my registry. Now I have nothing in Sound devices at all. One more thing, my computer keeps finding new hardware "multimedia audio controller" that it wants to install. I don't know what it might be. I am unable to install it.

I have a Compaq Presario SR1738NX, Windows XP Pro SP3.

Can anyone help me????

Thanks!!

 

Hi, thank you for the link. I downloaded the file successfully, but now I am supposed to:

6. Click the + (plus) sign next to "System devices" or "Other devices".
7.Right-click SMBus Controller or the device you want to update, and then select Update Driver....

I do not seem to have an SMBus Controller, and I'm not sure what the device may be that I want to update. Do you have any idea?