SZ55GN - Sound Card Missing from Device Manager

Can anybody help me? I'm lost here..
VAIO SZ55, it used to have sound.. but just suddenly the soundcard went missing from device manager..





I tried installing the KB888111.exe, and KB835221.exe, but the system does not detect any sound card.. when I install the driver I got the error, object device not present, restart.. bla bla.. even the modem is missing..



System is running Windows XP Pro, Intel Chipset drivers is installed, no Question mark or exclamation mark in device manager.. installing sound driver in Safe Mode does nothing..

Is this hardware problem? The sound card is onboard, could it be that it is faulty? Should I bring it back to Sony? it is less than a month old.. but is running my copy of XP Pro..

Any help is really appreciated.. Thanks

 

I am not sure if ubuntu able to detect the sound card out of the box or not, but this is what I got with ubuntu 7.10.





But it is able to detect the modem..

 

I installed ubuntu a while ago and I'm 99% sure it did detect the sound card.

If drivers aren't installed I think it shows up as an "unknown device" in Windows Device Manager.

It's strange is should suddenly stop working. For it to work you need a hotfix from MS installed, KB835221. Check you have it installed under Add/Remove Programs and make sure the show updates (or something) is checked. It's possible a recent Windows update has removed the hotfix.

But that's a Windows issue and it wouldn't affect Linux. !!?

 

I don't know.. called Sony, they told me to bring it to the service center.. great... the machine is less than a month old..