Vista says AC '97 audio working, but media center says no device

I have an MSI motherboard with onboard Realtek audio. I have downloaded and
installed the latest Vista drivers. The control panel reports the device is
properly installed and working, and that there are no IRQ conflicts. Yet when
I try to play any sound or music, I get an error that says the device is not
installed. The little speaker icon in the task bar has a red x, says
volume:0, and identifies Realtek AC '97 Audio. This problem is driving me
crazy. Any help would be appreciated.
Chuck

 

I also have the Realtek on my 680i board. The problem I am having is
that it doesnt play 5.1 sound in media player but does in games. I have
tinkered with it and I can get the Realtek setup to ping each speaker
properly but still no 5.1 sound in media player even when I use those
types of files. My suggestion to you would be go to RealTeks website and
download their utility for the interface. It is a driver but more than
the one your board uses. It allows you to configure the audio channels
from start. What I cannot figure out is how to designate what source my
board is using 5.1 vs. 7.1 etc. I found it once but I think I set it to
7.1 on "accident". I have looked everywhere and cannot find it now. The
5.1 works in games though.

 

The Realtek HD Audio Manager icon in the system tray has access to the
speaker configuration settings. So does the Sound applet in Control Panel...
click on Configure on the Playback tab. Individual applications may have
their own speaker configuration settings that could be set differently, as
well as some CODECs or audio filters that could downmix multi-channel sound
to stereo.

 

When you open the Mixer and right click on Devices is there more than one
possible audio device listed there?
Could your Realtek device possibly require the Realtek High Definition Audio
drivers IPO the AC97 codec?

I found that the MS Updates driver for the Realtek high definition audio did
not work properly. Several of the possible speaker output configurations
were missing and only the front speakers worked in the 5.1 setting. The
drivers downloaded from Realtek resolved the issues. Along with the Realtek
driver there would be a Microsoft high definition audio controller driver
that should also be installed, listed under System devices in Device
manager.