I appreciate this thread is three years old but there could still be someone having similar issues.

Surprisingly, nobody suggested checking that Windows Audio service was enabled; this can be done by clicking Start, right-click My Computer, click Manage, click the + next to Services And Applications, click Services, and in the ensuing window scroll down to Windows Audio making sure it is set to AUTOMATIC and STARTED. If you double-click on the item a window opens to enable you to make changes.

There may be other services that need to be enabled so it is worthwhile scrolling through for potential issues among the numerous services. As you scroll down item-by-item, a description of the effects appears just left of the table of columns.

I hope this is of help to someone. It is my first post having happened on the thread while researching a different problem with my audio sounds breaking up, apparently because of heavy CPU demands.

Thank you for allowing me to post.

vass20.