I have the Gateway Media center AthlonXP64 3500+ and have owned it 4 weeks now, out of the 4 weeks, i guess 6 times the sound just goes out, I do not have to be on the computer for it to do this, and if I restart then as soon as the computer is shutting off before the restart you can hear the windows  sound it makes shutting down and booting up, or I can just PRESS the sleep button, it does not go on mute and i checked the device manager and all showed to be ok, can any body help with this?This could be a hardware problem, and not a problem with windows.  Have you tried contacting gateway? Thanks for the reply, yes Gateway SAID it was nothing i should worry about and to restore my computer back before the problem started, did that, but I still can not help but to worryHa, It sounds they have CRAPPY CUSTOMER support.
Well, I am not completely sure what your problem is, or what you are asking, or how to even go about approaching that problem.  There are many other people on here that are very experienced, and WOULD be more than willing to help.  It may just take them a while to reply, so I suggest that you should be patient.  In the meantime...

All I can suggest is that you update your drivers for your sound card.  If you NEED help with that, come here or go to the "drivers" section for help.See to it that the correct drivers are installed. Do not use Windows default drivers.Tell gateway to either send someone out.......or ask them to replace it.......as you have carried out their instuctions and nothing has changed..........the sound is it the wav sound on start up?