I am having quite an odd problem with my computer (computer specs follow this message). I have noticed that as I use my computer (especially when using any media player such as winamp or windows media player) that the computer's performance deteriorates and will not correct itself. For example, the last time this happened I was listening to some music (MP3s, legal ones BTW) and suddenly the sound started "skipping" but it wasn't a normal "skip" it was like someone was inside the computer rattling the wires that go to the speakers, it wasn't a "slow computer" skip. It doesn't just affect the audio but also the modem. The internet dropped as well and when attempting to dialup it refuses to connect stating that the remote computer did not respond. When it tries dialing you can hear it dialing and the dialing sounds and connecting sounds are also garbled and "skipping." I thought it might just be the audio card, so i picked up the phone and listened on it while it dialed and it sounded the same.

The odd thing is that it's not a hardware problem. When I ran system recovery (using the partition located on my drive) the problem went away. But it wouldn't go away if I shut down or restarted the computer. I HAD to reinstal windows for it to fix itself. So far it has done it twice. Has anyone had a similar problem or know what may be going on?

ATM: dell is sending me a Windows Install disk to install windows freshly (they believe the image on the partition may be corrupt). Any comments or ideas?

Computer Specs:

INSPIRON E1705
Intel Centrino Duo T2400 @ 1.83GHz ech
988MHz, 1.0GB RAM
100GB HDD
Sony DVD+-RW DW-Q58A Optical Drive

I'm not an idiot when it comes to computers, I've had them all my life, but I have never had a problem like this before. It's odd... I appreciate any help.