@ Tommy boy, yes i have checked. the weird thing is that the default volume control on the toolbar for xp is even gone. and as for a fry, i think that the current coming out of the amp could have possibly been able to do that.
@ Darkseeker, the driver is up to date, so no go on that. i never knew that frying a sound card could keep a pc from starting though, thanks for that.
After much Google and taking the computer apart, I fixed it.
I ran troubleshooter and tried everything in it until i found one page. it said to go into the bios settings and make sure the onboard audio was enabled. well first of all pain in the ass hp doesnt want you in the bios so i had to take out the cmos battery. after getting in, i found it was turned to auto, i switched it to enable and tried it. there was sound but it was quite scrathcy. so i turned it back to auto and now i have perfect sound.
i think that being it was on auto, it deteced the amp and thought there was too much power coming in so it gave out.
Thanks for your help anyways guys, this helped me learn alot.