There are many queries on how to get sound back for your Lenovo 3000 after upgrade or rebuild. I have just finished fixing the sound driver and multimedia controller issues for my 3000J (Type 8258) for my Windows XP SP3 after a long search and investigation so I want to put this out there so that my experience may be useful for anyone who is tackling similar sound driver issues. Here is the link I got the working driver, http://support.lenovo.com/en_GB/downloads/detail.page?DocID=DS002311
or
you can search on google with "Realtek AC97 audio driver and software - 3000 J100, J105 / ThinkCentre A35, E50, E51" which should take you there.
For resolving the sound issue, besides installing the sound driver (read the Installation Instructions for Realteck AC97 ...) you may need to resolve one hidden or not obvious problem after finishing the above . Pay attention to the message telling you where the drivers are ended up during the driver installation process because you may need to know if you still don't hear any sound after the required reboot of your system. You will need to check your Device Manager. For XP, the path is Start->ControlPanel->System->Hardware->DeviceManager. If you see yellow tag(s) on Multimedia Controller, you need to click on it to bring up a panel/screen for updating the multimedia driver. Tell it where the driver folder is located (e.g. for my case, it was C:\SWTOOLS\DRIVERS\Realtekaudio\q5aud15us13\WDM). If WDM folder is not for your system, try different folders. Do not interrupt the updating process when it occurs because you will see increasing numbers of yellow tagged items in front of your eyes before they starts clearing up. Good luck!!
