Well, whoop de doo. I went to System Restore- set it for yesterday and lo and behold! I'm continually surprised what that will do. Never thought it would work with hardware/device managers, etc. But yee haw!

The sound came on loud and clear- had to turn it down immediately. Obviously my brain was doing the equivalent of telling someone to speak LOUDER when s/he is speaking in a foreign tongue.

Anyway, I thank you all very much. Would I learn anything at all if I didn't have problems??