Vista SP1 Realtek Warning

(I just want to throw this out there to save anyone else using Vista the trouble. Any fix ideas are welcomed, but I have probably already tried.)

There is no doubt that Vista has turned out to be a huge disappointment for PC users. Like many, I was excited to hear that Microsoft was releasing their Service Pack 1 because I expected it to remedy many of the strange characteristics of the original version of the operating system. I was wrong. My computer not only uses about 1.5 GB more RAM than it did prior to downloading SP1, but the update has muted my sound card. I have tried just about everything I can short of replacing the sound card, but it looks like I have to live without any sound until Microsoft figures out the problem and sends me a fix through Automatic Updates. This could take upwards of a month or so.

The only reason we still use MS is for gaming, and I can tell you first hand that Call of Duty 4 is pretty lame without sound. No iTunes, no Last.fm, no Hype-Machine, just silence.

Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit / Realtek High Definition Audio