Youtube Sound All The Sudden Started Popping & Crackling Today :(

I am so depressed about this I just wanna jump off a bridge. i just recently go a stereo hooked up to it & I listen to all sorts of sound effects & tons of music & all the sudden today after 3 hours it just gets all poppy & crackly. I'm sorry if this is the wrong forum but I didn't know where to post it. I have already tried lowering teh audio quality to CD. Didn't work. Firefox always updates automatically & I alwasy update flashplayer when it asks me to. PLEASE HELP! My computer makes youtube sound good & all my stuff on the hard drive sounds like it's coming out of a tin can, so this was a life saver for me. I don't want to lose it. I would wear out all my DVD players really quick if I tried to play the amoutn of audio that I like to play off youtube everyday. Windows 8.1

 

Are your audio drivers up to date?

 

Yes. OK, I just deactivated then reactivated my speakers & it seems to work now. Sorry i knwo that's not the correct term but I didn't sleep last night & can't think anymore. I hope this isn't something that's going to keep happening, though.