DirectSound (as in "bad DirectSound drivers") is a software component of DirectX, a free driver from Microsoft. I wonder whether updating this to the latest stable version would help?
You can get it here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
Also, did you first disable (in the BIOS setup) the on-board sound-chip if one is fitted? This is essential when fitting your own soundcard, otherwise there will be a conflict of resources even if the on-board chip doesn't actually work it must be disabled.