Broken sound - No audio device?

Question

On control panel > sounds and audio devices > volume it says 'No audio device' and it is all grayed out. I have tried the computer with different speakers, the sound card is (supposedly) fine. This error has previously occurred, Which I solved by installing something or something similar.

Help?

(Please don't tell me to check my speakers or look on control panel)

Answer 1

Reinstall the driver for the sound card.  If you don;t have it go to the sound card manufacturer's site (or the computer manufacturer's site) and download it.

That's the software that communicates between the card and Windows.  Without it, Windows doesn't know that the card exists.