audio (and/or video) is locking up computer... please help!

i am completely confused as to what may be causing this problem.

i first started having this problem while playing Battlefield 2142. everything would run well, then all of the sudden i would hear a loud screeching and everything completely locks up. all i can do is reboot.... so i've since stopped playing the game because of that reason, which is beside the point.

now this same thing happens when i play any audio file, whether it be through itunes, winamp, or windows media player.... the time varies on how long it will take before it locks up, but one thing is for sure, it's gonna lock up.

the same thing happens with video.... windows media player, quick time, you name it...

the funny thing is, i can stream anything on youtube and audio and video play perfectly fine. heck, i can listen to songs on myspace and they will play all the way through.

this all stated happening about 2 months ago and i can not figure out for the life of me what is causing this to happen. i have reinstalled BOTH audio and video drivers 2 times. nadda.

specs:

AMD Athlon(TM)XP 2100+
1.74GHz
1.00GB RAM
windows xp professional

audio:
creative SB audigy 2 (WDM)
video:
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT

any help is very appreciated!

thanks,
OHwrestler

 

when you say playing any audio file would that be from CD - DVD Player or file from HD.

 

an mp3, or from a CD.

...it's all very strange.

could it be a decoder?

 

do you have on board audio most mobos do in the Socket A range, try using audio without the sound card just to eliminate it. I think this might be a bit of trail and error to sort out.