My Sound Just Stopped Working

I'm running Windows Vista Home Premium. I have an onboard C-Media CM6501 Like Sound Card.

Up until yesterday, my sound worked just fine. I listened to music and my apps made noises. Then suddenly, when I flipped on my computer yesterday, where there would normally be sound, there was a hissing noise.

I checked to make sure all my cabling was in place. Nothing seemed to have moved. I pressed them in just to make sure. Everything seemed fine.

Still, there was only hissing. I reset my computer and the problem didn't go away. I had Windows look for driver updates (big mistake), the device stopped being noticed, so I rolled it back.

Still, there was only hissing. The hissing didn't occur where there wouldn't be sound. It only happens where there would be.

I don't understand. Nothing has changed. I didn't even install anything.

Any clues any one?

Try re-installing the audio driver instead of updating it. google is a great source for this.

I actually went to C-Media's web site and tried to find the drivers for my sound card, but I kid you not, they don't have my sound card listed in their driver directory.

Okay, I found the drivers from the ASUS web site. C-Media (the manufacturer of the card) doesn't have it on theirs.

New drivers installed, still no progress.