Sound only from Windows Media Player.

I turned on my machine a while ago and all sound was gone from my machine.

I reinstalled the original driver and manged to get sound back but ONLY from Windows Media Player.

I get no sound on Start up or shutdown, errors, or from any other media player.

I am running Win XP Home on a HP D4100.

I have tried stopping and starting services, reinstalling drivers, but nothing.

HP tells me I have to do a complete OS reinstall with a corresponding loss of everything. Don't feel like spending 2 days backing up and reinstalling all my software

Realtek AC'97
Asus Amberine motherboard

 

What is going on in your Device Manager>Sounds, Video, and Game Controllers?
What is listed there?
Are there any problems?

FYI: I don't want to suggest this yet, because the solution may be easier than this, but a repair install would do what HP recommended, without the loss of apps and personal data, but you would need your XP or recovery disc/partition and it needs to be done properly.
If this becomes necessary, I have a step by step guide.