I have been having rather severe sound issue, the foremost being, skipping
and stuttering of music players (both iTunes for Windows and Windows Media
Player) when other apps are opening. It has gotten so bad that the computer
has locked up, necessitating reboot.
Just about every app affects music players. However, I have also noticed,
lately, ‘choppiness’ in ALL sounds, including Windows default sounds,
including ‘Welcome Sound’ and ‘Log-Off Sound’. As well as messenger sounds.
I thought this was an iTunes v7 issue. I tried all the iTunes for Windows
v7 tweaks that i could find on iTunes Forum.
I have updated and/or re-installed
Realtek drivers (update driver package installs Realtek Soundman sound
manager, which i disabled)
nVidia ForceWare MultiMedia drivers (from install CD)
Ran Norton Disk Optimizer (defragged?)
Ran dxdiag and set audio acceleration to standard.
Ran all my Spyware/Adware/Virus programs (AdAware, Spybot, Norton, AVG,
Windows Defender), nothing detected.
Ran registry optimizers (RegClean, Norton WinDoctor, NTREGOPT)
Ran SeaTools diagnostics on both harddrives (passed)
This audio problem occurred recently...I cannot tell you if I think it is
related to any particular change in the computer. I have been trying to
figure that out, but can't pinpoint anything.
My ‘work-around’ is to pause my music players when opening something new but
this is PITA. What concerns me most is that even default sounds are ‘odd’
Onboard audio: Realtek AC'97 Audio; Driver: alcxwdm.sys (v5.10.00.6230
built by WinDKK) updated from v5.10.00.5710
Is it possible that 'onboard sound' is bad and i should but a sound card?
Anyway...hope somebody can point me in the right direction as to what might
be happening here.

On Apr 15, 8:28 am, dre1x <d...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> I have been having rather severe sound issue, the foremost being, skipping
> and stuttering of music players (both iTunes for Windows and Windows Media
> Player) when other apps are opening. It has gotten so bad that the computer
> has locked up, necessitating reboot.
> Just about every app affects music players. However, I have also noticed,
> lately, 'choppiness' in ALL sounds, including Windows default sounds,
> including 'Welcome Sound' and 'Log-Off Sound'. As well as messenger sounds.
> I thought this was an iTunes v7 issue. I tried all the iTunes for Windows
> v7 tweaks that i could find on iTunes Forum.
> I have updated and/or re-installed
> Realtek drivers (update driver package installs Realtek Soundman sound
> manager, which i disabled)
> nVidia ForceWare MultiMedia drivers (from install CD)
> Ran Norton Disk Optimizer (defragged?)
> Ran dxdiag and set audio acceleration to standard.
> Ran all my Spyware/Adware/Virus programs (AdAware, Spybot, Norton, AVG,
> Windows Defender), nothing detected.
> Ran registry optimizers (RegClean, Norton WinDoctor, NTREGOPT)
> Ran SeaTools diagnostics on both harddrives (passed)
> This audio problem occurred recently...I cannot tell you if I think it is
> related to any particular change in the computer. I have been trying to
> figure that out, but can't pinpoint anything.
> My 'work-around' is to pause my music players when opening something new but
> this is PITA. What concerns me most is that even default sounds are 'odd'
> Onboard audio: Realtek AC'97 Audio; Driver: alcxwdm.sys (v5.10.00.6230
> built by WinDKK) updated from v5.10.00.5710
> Is it possible that 'onboard sound' is bad and i should but a sound card?
> Anyway...hope somebody can point me in the right direction as to what might
> be happening here.

I had problems quite similar with WMP. Even the Video side was
pixilating while other players (Blaze, Nero) were fine. WMP is OK
right now (fingers crossed) but I have avoided updrading to the latest
WMP as it has had some very adverse publicity. If I remember
correctly, with WMP I acquired updates from Microsoft. I also use
Realtek AC 97 and have an onboard sound card so I would not blame your
onboard sound just yet.