Winamp & Shoutcast Forums - Winamp 5.1 works then dies

I've installed, unstalled, reinstalled, rinsed and repeated several times (as per forum instructions) and still have the same issue.

When I start Winamp (latest version, downloaded yesterday) it works fine for a few hours, then suddenly I lose all sound (and video if it's a video file). Just now I was listening to a Internet Radio stream, and it stopped mid song. If I switch to a different station, it will buffer, then try to start playing it. You can see the Graphic EQ show the first note of music (but don't hear anything) and freeze. The EQ drops down to bottom levels all the way across and does nothing else. I don't get any error messages at all. If I switch to another station, same thing. I can refresh the stations no problem.

If I switch to an Internet TV station, I get the first frame of video, with the same EQ freezing and then nothing. It just sits there on the first frame of video with no sound. I can refresh the list, and try numerous different stations with the same result. If the server is full, it will tell me, but on good stations I only get the first frame of video.

If I try to play a song off of the hard drive, I get the same little blip on the EQ, then it dies down to nothing and I get no sound. Same with local video, first frame and nothing else.

If I close Winamp, the process stays open in the task manager and I have to manually kill it. After I kill it if I restart Winamp, it's the same behavior. I have to do a hard reboot to get Winamp to work again. Then it's good for another couple of hours and that's it.

Any ideas? I've uninstalled and reinstalled several times with the same results.

System Specs.

Intel PIII 866
256mb RAM
Windows 2000 Server

Nothing else is using the sound card except the occasional ding from Trillian. I only have a couple of IE windows open, as well as Trillian (and Winamp of course).

I'm behind a firewall, but all requests (streaming or other) initiated from our side are allowed. I've had the admin open my IP completely, but I get the same behavior so I know it's not firewall related.

Any ideas? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Blackwood