Hello to all,

Recently downloaded  driver update R171789, to unlock stereo mix. Everything went well with the install. When I record everything goes normal. When I play back the audio, there is random clicking noises, crackling noises and audio will skip also. I tried using different recording programs(Roxio sound editor & Windows wave studio), same problem. Recorded audio from web, same problem. Popped a music cd into drive and recorded audio, same problem. Finally on playback of one of the recorded audio tests, the laptop froze and audio started playing one little section over and over before my screen went blue. The screen said that it had detected a malfunction and that it was going to shut itself off to prevent damage. If it was the first time this had happend, just to turn the laptop back on and continue as normal. If it had happend before, or I had recently installed something new,  I could turn it on in safe mode to diagnose or to make sure any new programs were functioning correctly. This leads me to believe there might be a problem with my sound card or the new driver update. Can anyone please advise? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Dell Inspiron E1405

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2009 Service pack3

CPU: T2300 @ 1.66 GHz    980MHz, 0.99GB RAM

Audio: Sigma Tel High Def. Audio CODEC version5.10.0.5515