Greetings,

I have what I believe to be the leftovers from an Alcan worm problem that I thought I solved a while back.

The noticeable portion of this problem comes with my sound device. When I try to play something in Windows Media Player, I get this message:
"Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There might not be a sound device installed on your computer, it might be in use by another program, or it might not be functioning properly."

System sounds still operate, but I can't play any of my music. Most frustrating. To add to this, I can't change the volume level of the sound on my computer (from my Gateway laptop, this would be done using the function key and then pressing the volume down button).

Finally, I get a generic host process error that I presume should lead me to the root of the problem, but I don't know what the information is supposed to be telling me. The error signature is as follows:

szAppName : svchost.exe szAppVer : 5.1.2600.2180 szModName : ntdll.dll
szModVer : 5.1.2600.2180 offset : 0001103c

With the technical information:
C:\DOCUME~1\Owner\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1666.dir00\svchost.exe.mdmp
C:\DOCUME~1\Owner\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1666.dir00\appcompat.txt

For what it's worth, I'm running Windows XP. I've also gone to Program Files > Accessories > SYstem tools > System Information, and according to the Sound Device portion of "COmponents":

Name Conexant AC-Link 2 Channel Audio
Manufacturer Conexant
Status OK
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_24C5&SUBSYS_0360107B&REV_03\3&61AAA01&1&FD
I/O Port 0x00001C00-0x00001CFF
I/O Port 0x00001880-0x000018BF
Memory Address 0xE0100C00-0xE0100DFF
Memory Address 0xE0100800-0xE01008FF
IRQ Channel IRQ 5
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\camc6aud.sys (6.14.10.0510, 36.88 KB (37,760 bytes), 5/9/2005 11:03 PM)

Finally, here's my HJT log, which I perceive to be clean:
Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 6:13:05 PM, on 6/24/2006
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MsMpEng.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\AOL\ACS\AOLacsd.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgamsvr.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgupsvc.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgemc.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\New Boundary\PrismXL\PRISMXL.SYS
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\PDVDServ.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxtray.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\hkcmd.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\AOLDial.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe
C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\jusched.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgcc.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\HijackThis.exe

O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Recguard] C:\WINDOWS\SMINST\RECGUARD.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroFilterCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\NeroCheck.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPLpr] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPLpr.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SynTPEnh] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RemoteControl] "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\PDVDServ.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IgfxTray] C:\WINDOWS\system32\igfxtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HotKeysCmds] C:\WINDOWS\system32\hkcmd.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AOLDialer] C:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\ACS\AOLDial.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\jusched.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG7_CC] C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgcc.exe /STARTUP
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Defender] "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe" -hide
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Reader Speed Launch.lnk = C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Reader\reader_sl.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Microsoft Office.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\OSA9.EXE
O16 - DPF: {1239CC52-59EF-4DFA-8C61-90FFA846DF7E} - http://www.musicnotes.com/download/mnviewer.cab
O20 - Winlogon Notify: WgaLogon - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WgaLogon.dll
O23 - Service: AOL Connectivity Service (AOL ACS) - America Online, Inc. - C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\AOL\ACS\AOLacsd.exe
O23 - Service: AVG7 Alert Manager Server (Avg7Alrt) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgamsvr.exe
O23 - Service: AVG7 Update Service (Avg7UpdSvc) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgupsvc.exe
O23 - Service: AVG E-mail Scanner (AVGEMS) - GRISOFT, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgemc.exe
O23 - Service: PrismXL - New Boundary Technologies, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\New Boundary\PrismXL\PRISMXL.SYS
O23 - Service: AEGIS Client (SVC8021X) - Meetinghouse Data Communications - C:\WINDOWS\system32\svc8021x.exe