Having a strange issue which from what I've found seems to be related to my new motherboard onboard sound chip...

Had a Z68 chipset MB I had to replace but since it is no longer made I upgraded to a Z75 chipset board...

At first skyrim crashed to desktop once it hit the end of the main screen(continue, load, new, option, etc). I got that resolved by resetting the sound configuration to match my soundcard(M Audio Delta 2496)...

I no longer get CTDs and can start the games, but once it passes the Bethesda logo, the sound disappears and doesn't come back in game. There also appears to be serious lag in game whenever I try to talk to someone or there are a lot of sounds, even though nothing gets heard/played.

I have tried setting it to all settings at 48,000 and 44,100 16bit and 24bit, but nothing has resolved it. I have played it with the same setups, mods and sound/video card for two years and never had this issue. Also do not have this issue on any other game, just Skyrim...

Any help? Suggestions?

See a few people have fixed by installing Direct X 10, so will try when I get home...

Get the latest drivers from Realtek. Then, make sure the Realtek is not adding surround sound enhancements (or any enhancements really) both in the software and the Windows Soundcard applet. Someone had a similar issue with another game and this sorted it.

The issue lies in that the new chipset has some enhancements, but those enhancements kill the sound in these games.

Did you reinstall windows with the new motherboard? Windows sometimes gets offended if you do a major hardware change, and expect it to just figure it out.....

That's true....

If it's the same motherboard it will boot just fine, and you won't need to do anything.

If it's a similar motherboard, it may boot, but you should do a fresh install once you've backed up your data. This will eliminate possible driver conflicts, and general clutter.

Well, for whatever reason, once I reinstalled Direct X 10 everything is back to normal with the sound...