My first troubleshooting step would be to connect a known good headset or speaker to the sound output jack. If that sounds the same, I would suspect the onboard sound. There are several PCI and USB sound cards at Newegg for less than $20, some less than $10. You could try one of them for troubleshooting. You might buy a better one if sound quality is important to you, but I think the biggest return in sound quality will come from good speakers/headset. I like to read the user reviews before I buy at Newegg.
Good luck.


>From: "Hachmeyer, Mr. Paul S." <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: [PCBUILD] Sound not playing or breaking up
>
>I'm having a problem playing any sounds.  Trying to play any type of link like utube, no sound at all, using IE7 or Firefox.  If I download the file first and then play it, I get some sound, but it is breaking up as it plays.  Locally stored music (itunes, windows media player, real player) sound also breaks up.  Sound is onthe motherboard, not a separate card, HP Pavilion, winxp sp2, 3 gb ram.  All volume setting are fine, speakers working, power on.
>Paul Hachmeyer 

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