Bad DirectSound driver! Error Code 88780078 please help!

I've been on the forums all night looking for an answer. I've done everything from downloading and updating drivers to trying system restores. I went back as far as i could (four days) but it wasn't enough and the drivers don't help. I have a Dell Dimension C521 Windows Vista 32-bit. When I try to play audio files the bad sound driver error 88780078 comes up and the little speaker icon with the red X on it sits on the taskbar and says no audio output device is installed when I scroll over it. I am at wits end with this thing and I guess the last straw will to get a new sound card or do a complete system restore but I really don't want to do either. Please someone help me! I miss my music!!! :(

I just ran the audio tests off of my Dell Disk and I could not hear anything. I got error codes, 1B63:061B, 1B63:0F1B and every other error on the sound tests. Also I forgot to mention that when I check the audio driver in device manager it says 'This device is working properly.' and when I try to update the driver software it says it is up to date. I tried uninstalling it and rebooting, that didn't seem to fix the problem either. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!!