The most simple question but the hardest solution

My problem simply is that my computer doesn't recognise I have a sound card. It shows I have one in the devices but does not use it (eg no devices listed in sound control panel apart from the modem)

This is not an issue because most programs don't seem to ask for one, however when using the web none of the embedded players will output audio. This is infuriating and I have been unable to find any way of solving this through google or other forums.

I have called the computer supplier -
They claim they installed the computer in the wrong order and it would need re doing and wiping in order to recognise the card as the primary audio card. I don't want to have to go through this so I really want another solution.

I want to be able to fool the internet into just outputting sound like Windows media player and all my other software do...

I use firefox 2.0 (IE dosen't work either) and spec is:

Laptop, AMD Athlon 3200, 1gb Ram, Realtek High Definition Audio Card

Thanks for any help anyone can offer!

Toby Price