Computer Help and Support

If you are comfortable with it, you can check the sound card manufacturer and model #, go to their site and there should be a recent driver package download. Reinstalling drivers could be something to try here.

Another suggestion: Open task manager and note how many processes are running. Now, it all depends on your configuration and machine, but if there are a inordinate numbers of one process running or hundreds of processes in total, (which could be a virus or malware) that can bog a machine down and cause speed problems which then might interfere with the sound playing.

That's just another troubleshooter.