No Sound in PoL or FFXI

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I am at a loss as to what could possibly be the culprit here. As the title states, I have no sound effects, music, or ambient noise from the moment I select the Playonline viewer to play FFXI.
I have many applications and other games that have sound, so I have determined it is not a problem with my speakers/headphones etc.

FFXI has been installed on this computer for the past four years, and last time I played I had full sound. Upon reactivating my account, however, I am very disappointed to find that all sounds seem to be off. I really was looking forward to returning to Vanadiel, but this frustration is causing me to lose heart. One of the things I enjoy about the game is the rich sound magic and weapon skills make, and I daresay the audio cues are important.

I have looked into the registry and all things seem nominal. Music and SFX are enabled in both the PoL viewer and FFXI.

I'd really like to figure out what is causing this so I can get on with exploring the world.

I'm running windows 7 64 bit on an HP Pavillion Dv4 laptop. I am not the most tech savvy individual, but I can read and follow instructions.

Again, my sound works perfectly for everything else but PoL/FFXI.
Any help would be hugely appreciated. Thanks.