No sound in new windows xp install..sorry its a repeat..couldnt find my other one

[mzjordan]

This is going to be long but i am desperate...here goes
I installed a new windows xp pro onto a new hd 2 days ago and I have no sound. No sound device installed is the message I get. Multimedia audio controller in device manager has yellow exclamation.
Here are the things I have tried...
1. uninstalling the multimedia audio from device manager..windows still gives me the error when it tries to reinstall on reboot
2. installed the chipset drivers for my motherboard(asus a7n8x-la)..installed the nvidia nforce2 400 chipset drivers
3. downloaded the realtek drivers from 10 different places and get the same message
4. did a disk chk and set it to fix errors..it says it fixed a bad cluster in driver.cab...still no change in being able to install
5. tried installing update for realtek from microsoft update site...says install failed
6. tried installing c media ac 97 driver..still no sound

I am by no means a pc expert and I have tried everything I can think of trying. I dont want to have to reinstall the windows because I am a photographer and have loaded pics from a wedding and am in mid edit...plz help!!

Here are a couple of my questions just in case the fixes given dont work
1. Can I use ANY OTHER sound device drivers OTHER THAN realtek for my pc(hp a430n)...motherboard listed above
2. Can i extract old drivers from my old hard drive and use them(may seem like a silly question but i honestly dont know what can and cant be done) on this hard drive? If so...how do I get to them on the old drive?

I already have a program that gives full specs for my pc if you'd like me to paste them. I just thought the motherboard, chipset and pc type would be enough....thank you in advance for any help!