Oh man Tempest, that really sucks. Was hoping we might get you sorted out there.
If it's the sound that's doin' it, then I would agree, get a dedicated soundcard. Just outta curiosity, do you know what kind of on-board sound is used on your setup? As I can only think that it is something that is causing a conflict when you have 3D sound checked.
This is probably a longshot at best, but as a for instance, my motherboard came with a Realtek sound setup. It has options for stereo, quadraphonic, and 5.1, and 7.1 surround systems. I had my 5.1 speaker setup plugged in, and my games would crash from time to time, and just on whim, I checked the error crash report and got a lot sound conflict reasons, so I took the time to dig into it, and found that it had the speakers configured wrong, and had added some effects, when I first fired it up.
So I went through, and ran tests for about a week, configuring the speakers properly, and most important was to turn off every effect and run it dry.
Like I said, probably a longshot, but you never know.
Good luck just the same! Hope you get it figured out!
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A legislative act contrary to the Constitution is not law.
-John Marshall Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
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