Sound coughing

[Caernafon]

Hi ya'll!
I hope I'm in the right place for this type of question, I've been looking for quite a while without finding a proper response... So here it is: about a week ago, for no apparent reason, my sound output suddenly became very sensitive. For instance, having winamp running while I'm connecting onto the internet, the sound would instantly freeze once the connection set up. Idem for when I connect via a FTP software onto a server. Winamp just stops, so you have to press play again. And everytime I browse, every new window loading would make the sound scratch, stutter or repeat for a bit. It never did this before, just smoothly running. I don't quite believe it comes from winamp itself, because watching Divx videos, the sound scratches like on an old record. I hope this sounds familiar to you, I'd so much want to get this darn thing fixed...
Thanks!

[Caernafon]

Oh, and here are a few tidbits about my system:
Win98
160Mb Ram
Pentium II
Everything alright before...

[. - .... .- -. ....]

You're playing DivX on a PII with 160Mb of RAM - no wonder you are having problems..... Your system simply doesn't have the horsepower for these type of demands.

Have you tried any of the suggestions in Tech Support Greatest Hits??

Particularly from this post (courtesy of DJEgg):
RE: Skipping / freezing / distortion, clicking & popping during playback

1) Winamp 2.81 users, install this official update patch: Winamp 2.8x Update
(Includes latest waveOut and DirectSound Outputs, plus selected Input plugins)

- watch this space for further developments

For 2.8x freeze-up issues, see here and here

(main solution: upgrade to 2.9x)

Important: wa2update patch is obsolete under Winamp 2.90
2.9x users should NOT install the wa2update patch.

2) If the skipping problems persist:
* Note: some of these links are outdated and relate to pre 2.8x versions
http://www.friedbagels.com/tecaudprobdu.html (vgakills!)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=32363 (v2.x DirectSound tweaks)*
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=94428 (DirectSound update)*
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=100492 (v2.8x DirectSound Manual)*
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=62586 (WaveOut tweaks)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=43231 (busthrottle/smooth scrolling)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=45994 (Win9x/ME system.ini tweaks)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=66514 (Gen. fixes/Windows tweaks)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=29776 (Increasing buffer)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=30885 (videocard/resolution)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=31503 (WA tweaks/sound drivers)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=88899 (IRQ sharing)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=81867 (IRQ conflicts)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=52709 (Win2k ACPI irq sharing)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=44757 (poor quality playback)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=31611 (distorted playback)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=29810 (CD related skips)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=37143 (DS tweaks/Network card)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=30389 (skipping: further tips?)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=33769 (typical user error!)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=53599 (Win2k crackle+pop/NIC)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=53487 (IDE Controller driver)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=70893 (background apps)
http://www.microsoft.com/windows98/s...asp#audio_hiss
http://alive.singnet.com.sg/tech/click.htm
Search results for - keyword: Smooth Scrolling

3) WDM Soundcard driver issues:
Choppy or no sound with WDM drivers : Win98/ME
Problems with soundcards that do not support WDM drivers
WDM Update for Win98SE - kmixer.sys
WDM Update for Win98SE
Full Micro$oft Knowledge Base search

4) VIA Chipset woes:
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=72895
http://www.viahardware.com/download/index.shtm
http://www.viahardware.com/download/viatweak.shtm
http://alive.singnet.com.sg/tech/via.htm (Via/Southbridge vs SBLive)
http://www.networking.tzo.com/net/software/ (Creative cards, pci latency patch)
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?threadid=85420

5) Aureal/Vortex & Diamond Monster MX300 soundcards with Via chipset (Win2K/XP)
http://www.vortexofsound.com/techhelp/th-v2a80.htm