Bios is reflashed, but was at current version anyway.
Again, this is *not* a hardware problem. The button s worked just fine prior to a reload of Windows. That reload of software is not going to break these buttons. There is something in configuration or device drivers that is missing between a stock Windows load and the addition of the dell drivers on the website versus the OEM image that is put on the device out of the box.
I appreciate your efforts, I really do... I see several links to people with the exact same problem online:
http://www.helpowl.com/q/Dell/InspironOne2320/Troubleshooting/volume-controls-working/224490
All of which have no answers to them. Do you know what the device ID information is for these buttons so I can verify that they show in Device Manager and maybe I can try removing them and letting them re-enumerate?