Okay this is my situ.

I have an old Intel D845EPT2 motherboard which has been working fine. However, lightning struck and I think the sound portion of my motherboard was burnt. The rest of the computer seemed to work fine. So since the Soundmax (i think it was that) on-board was burnt, I bought a Creative Vibra 128 card (it says CT4810 on the card, so i presume thats the chipset/model?!). Anyway, after fixing it, no sound was there on my first bootup even though a driver installed. I download the creative drivers from their site (old stuff!) and on the first reboot it works. However once i turn the machine on again, I might as well be deaf because I have no sound. After trial and error, it seems like with every reboot it works.

Anyway I needed to reinstall windows, so i did a clean install and now the same problem exists, in addition to a yellow question mark for a "SB Bus Controller"... read up on the net and is said install the motherboard drivers which i am currently downloading...

so wat should i do?! I'm considering on buying another sound card, but i'm not sure if that will solve the problem so i'm considering on buying a motherboard instead... either way i am dead short on cash...

any help is HIGHLY appreciated! thanx...