Im using an ALC655 Realtek sound card integrated into a Gigabyte mobo and with ICH7 chipset and iDeneb 10.5.5.

There is no sound.

Until recently I was convinced that this is a driver problem, because System Prefs didn't show any devices under the
Audio tab. But now I got a version of the AppleAC97Audio.kext that actually makes the card be detected in System Prefs,
and it now lets me also to play system sounds but only in theory... Because no actual sound comes with any choice of speakers/headphones.

I am starting to accept the defeating fact that there is a hardware problem with the ALC655 and that i will need to find an alternative. I realized recently that XP doesnt play sounds either even though the driver is installed and again, the system detects the card...

All I need from you guys is to confirm for me that there is a high probability of a hardware issue so i can stop browsing the net
for new drivers.

thanks in advance.

tonik