No playback device in ME

Windows ME system. Latest chipset drivers, updates, DX etc etc.
After removing a virus, there was no sound. Sound card claimed to be working correctly, but in Sounds and Multimedia it says no playback device.
Reinstalled card - no good.
Installed new sound card - got sound. Rebooted next day - no sound. Same thing, device OK in Dev Mngr, but no playback device in Sounds and Multimedia.
Tried a third card, and a fourth. Works fine until reboot, then vanishes from Sounds and Multimedia. In each step here I also took out all multimedia properties from Windows Set Up in Add/Remove.
All virus scans done and clean. All spyware checks clean now. HiJack this report is as good as it can get. Used JV16 to get rid of detritus etc.
How can I "reset" all sound and multimedia properties to get sound to stay??

Thanks.

Sounds like the system restore is on, disable system restore and remove all other sound installs from safe-mode than reinstall. That should work.

Restore was disabled when the virus was eradicated, and all sound references are gone from safe mode, but im greatful for any advise.......
Im at a real loss here, as the customer does not want a reinstall (which was my first inclination to get rid of the virus) because of a certain progs they have.

Anyone ......... im really stuck here.......... pleeeease. :confused:

Well if you are comfortable editing the registry you could try deleting the enum key. CAUTION : you will need to reinstall ALL drivers. Another possibility is if the sound is old enough to have a non-wdm driver such as one for win95 you could try forcing it to use the older driver and that " MIGHT " work.

Tried using a Win98 driver instead of the WDM driver and got sound each time I tried, but after reboot, back to square one.

Ive now tried 7 different cards. all work on installation, but come up as No Playback Device after a reboot.

I see you used JV16, it might have you stuck in a loop, (it keeps restoring, the old registry, and not the new one or newly saved one.) Try saving the registry before you reboot (make a back-up), than restore it after a cold boot.

Well, its fixed now. I reinstalled ME over the top, and on reboot it asked about replacing all related sound files.
Im not sure im happy about the whys and wherefores, but its certainly working now, thanks.