How to get the darn speakers workin' (ZX7)

Well, I mentioned somethin' about this, I think, on another thread here, but here's a later version of the problem.
First off, I use my ZX7 as a portable studio. I have an PCMCIA VXPocket v2 and usually have it hooked up to monitors when on and off stage, but sometimes I wanna use the speakers (yes, crappy as they might be compared to monitors they do offer a measure of portability).
Since I bought this ZX7 a few months back the sound hasn't worked. I've tried everything from using the latest realtek ac'97 drivers to downgrading to older drivers. I even tried installing basic sis 7018 audio drivers (latest and old). Didn't work, though.
Now, I was thinking about just accepting that the onboard is never going to work, but then the other day I brought my lappy out of standby and it made the greatest sound ever out of the built-in speakers. When I clicked on my icon at the welcome screen the speakers did the 'windows chime' chord, then cut out about 2/3 the way through the chime, and then started up normally. Also, everytime I start windows, right as the welcome screen pops on, I get the speaker 'pop' showing that they have been engaged.
So now, I'm thinkin' that there has to be a way to get sound from the speakers outta this beasty.
Also, when I check out pc wizard 2006 info, I noticed that under multimedia it lists my device audio as sis 7012 audio codec. Shouldn't it be sis 7018 (like it says in Phoenix BIOS?):

Device Audio :SiS7012 Audio Codec
Audio Playback :VXpocket Audio Card (WDM)
Audio Playback :Modem #1 Line Playback
Audio Playback :VXpocket Out 1
Audio Playback :Realtek AC97 Audio
Audio Playback :Microsoft Sound Mapper
Audio Recording :VXpocket In 1
Audio Recording :Modem #1 Line Record
Audio Recording :Realtek AC97 Audio
Audio Recording :VXpocket Audio Card (WDM)
MIDI Output :Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth
MIDI Output :Microsoft MIDI Mapper
MIDI Input :VXpocket Midi In #1
Mixer Device :VXpocket Audio Card (WDM)
Mixer Device :VXpocket Mixer 1
Mixer Device :Realtek AC97 Audio
Device multimedia :AVIVideo
Device multimedia :CDAudio
Device multimedia :Sequencer
Device multimedia :WaveAudio
Device multimedia :MPEGVideo

Is there some log file or something that might show what is conflicting with the speakers playing?

specs: ZX7;
Mainboard :SiS (648 Demo Board)
Chipset :SiS 648FX
Processor :Intel Pentium 4 @ 3400 MHz
Physical Memory :1024 MB (2 x 512 DDR-SDRAM )
Video Card :ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon 9700 (M10 NP) (RV350)
Hard Disk :HTS726060M9AT00 (60 GB)
DVD-Rom Drive :DVD+RW RW8165
Network Card :Realtek Semiconductor RTL8169 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
Operating System :Microsoft Windows XP Professionnal 5.01.2600 Service Pack 2
DirectX :Version 9.0c

note: I believe I have the ati 9600 mobility (the sticker next to my keyboard tells me so), not the 9700.

side question: on an old thread there was a link to some old hypersonic-pc info and it said that the ZX7 comes with a tv tuner. Is that right? I see no tv tuner here.
Thanks in advance for any help.

I've noticed that the SB audigy 2 ZS has a utility that will allow for the pcmcia card to play out through the laptop speakers. Do you think that it needs the SB card, or do you think it'll work with any pcmcia sound card? ...better yet, are there any other utilities that might have the same effect?