SoundMax Audio Error

I just reformatted my xp home pc, and have already installed the lastest nvidia/directx drivers, etc, but the sound drivers won't work...

I've tried deleting that "Multimedia device" that has the question mark in device manager, but that doesn't work, and when i try to start a program that uses sound, say, ventrilo, it says it can't "activate directsound" for that device

PC Summary:

Have you been to Windows Update and downloaded all the updates available for your computer? I seem to recall a Windows High Definition Audio KB that was necessary under SP2 to correctly install your audio drivers.

I *think* it may have been this KB Article. But please do try Windows Update first to ensure that you get the latest and most correct KB Update for your system...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/888111/en-us

yep, i have my system on auto-update, and have already shut down and installed all those updates...when i press "shutdown system", it doesn't have that icon under "shut down" either



just in case, i downloaded and installed that, and it didn't do anything


btw, there were 73 updates installed, so i'm pretty sure i got them all