Thanks for replying.
My previous answer referred to the volume resetting to zero as sometimes happens whe playing games in mute mode. The mute is conveyed to your setting after end play.
I suppose "check for New Hardware" could have done the same as resetting bios which is always a last resort, especially if you have specific settings in the bios.
You might want to check your DMA setting for the Drives. Ressetting the bios also resets the DMA setting. It should be set to 3 and not 5, which is the default.
I know this Question is resolved but another thing you might want to check is the IRQ setting for the soundcard. It should be set to IRQ10.
You can close this thread now.