Wierd Sound Issues...

I've been having this issue for about a good month now. What would happen is when I play any music or video, the sound would deteriorate and my mouse would freeze for a few seconds. The wierd thing is when I move my mouse around , it looks like I can still click on things and wahtnot, but the cursor would stay in one place. Also, when I'm watching a video or playing music, in order to fix the the sound deterioiration I have to adjust the track to a different spot or hit pause or play. Wierd right? I was thinking this may be a hard drive issue but I'm not all that sure. Has this happened to anyone? Anything would help

 

Does this happen with video/audio files on the hard drive, or video/audio files on a CD/DVD, or both?
Have you run a diagnostic on your hard drive? All the main drive makers have 'em as free downloads on their web sites (except Toshiba). You may want to run a diagnostic on your RAM also. There's some good Windows based memory tests, but I prefer bootable ones. Here's a good one: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_Windows_Memory_Diagnostic_d3955.html It will allow you to create a boot floppy, or an .ISO image file. You can burn the ISO file as an image to a CD, then boot to it. When the diagnostic begins, press T for the extended tests and run at least 3-4 passes. It will take some time, so grab a six pack and pop a good movie in the DVD player. It might also be a codec issue, but I think that's unlikely. But you can always try uninstalling any codec packs you have, and installing a different one. If you don't have any codec packs, you should consider installing one. I like the KLite Mega pack and the Storm pack. Here's links:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/K-Lite_Mega_Codec_Pack_d5230.html
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Storm_Codec_d5491.html
They both have Media Player Classic built in, but you also have the option to not install it if you wish. IIRC, KLite will scan your current codecs and repair/remove/replace any broken codecs during the setup process. Doing some basic PC maintenance and file clean up might help too (it certainly won't hurt ).
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=106650

[dlb]