Lost Audio on my Inspiron 530

2 days ago, I sat down at my computer (inspiron 530 running Vista), and I soon realized there was no sound (though there had been just a few hours earlier).  I checked all the wire connections for the speakers, and they were fine.  After quite a while of troubleshooting, nothing had worked.  I tried different jacks suggested for the speakers, and I uninstalled/reinstalled/updated my sound driver both manually and through the control panel.  Every once in a while, the speaker crackles a bit, so I'm pretty sure it has power (also considering that the power light is on...).  I have also plugged in other headphones to the jack that had been working for me before the problem, and it worked fine. However, the sound panel indicates that the speakers are working.  Also, it seems unable to differentiate between these speakers and my headphones, as even when they are both plugged in, the sound panel only shows one device.

Anyone who has had this problem could probably tell you how frustrating this is, and I would really like some help.

Note:I don't know all that much about the specs of my computer, fair warning

Thanks guys!