Stupid problem...new card...sound is now ruined...help!

[WarmMachineME]

Ok, this is going to sound stupid, but I have run out of options, and have no choice but to come to you guys for help.

I just installed a new graphics card. The Xtasy GeForce4 MX420 64MB PCI.

Now then, here's the deal. I installed the card, fired up Grand Theft Auto 3 to test it out, and the results were beautiful. But, I soon noticed that I had no sound. And when I turned the volume all the way up, I could just barely hear the game's soundtrack. Barely.

I messed around with a few things, wondering if I had indirectly affected the sound when I disabled the in-board graphics card. I restarted the computer, and to my surprise my chosen start up sound came blaring out of the speakers at maximum volume. I found this especially odd, seeing as how when I looked at the volume controls, they were nearly completely down. I played with the controls, and found that as I moved it, the volume varied randomly from maximum to non-existant, and the sound moved from one speaker to the other to both.

Now, logic told me that the sound should not have been affected by the installation of a new graphics card, so I started going down the list of usual suspects. I...

-checked the power

-checked all the connections, twice

-opened the computer to make sure I hadn't jarred anything when installing the card

-checked to make sure my in-board graphics card wasn't one of those integrated graphics + sound monsters, and it wasn't (The card itself is labeled as the ESS Allegro in my device manager.)

-checked all the properties of both the sound card, the new graphics card, and the previous graphics card in the device manager.

So, I'm at a loss. I have no idea what could be happening. All I know is that the sound worked fine prior to the installation of the new card, and now it doesn't.

I'd be exceedingly grateful for any suggestions anyone might have.

Just in case it may matter, the rest of my system's vitals are -

512MB Ram
850 Mhz PIII

[Sauron]

Well I never heard of it, but seems to me that the keys you are using, might be the keys the game wants to increase or decrease the volume.