Extreme audio distortion in SL

Hello all... I just searched and read everything I could regarding audio issues, but can't find my specific problem. In SL, my audio is lagging/distorted... i.e. all sounds/music/voices/etc sound like the speed was turned down to "Charlie Brown's parents" level. Slo-mo, if you will. And this only occurs in SL... my sound works fine for all other apps.

Here's what I have, and what I've done:

WinXP SP2
AMD Athlon XP 3000+
2.10 GHz with 1G RAM
Nvidia GeForce 6200
Soundblaster Audigy SE

(note: per instructions, I disabled the integrated audio/video in BIOS when I got the cards. And if there was a problem there, I believe it would affect ALL audio, not just SL.)

I have:
-defragged regularly
-updated, then uninstalled/reinstalled QuickTime
-ditto for SL
-tried OnRez, same problem, no change
-updated card drivers, then rolled back to an older one just to check... same either way
-adjusted audio settings in Prefs
-checked sound card settings.. it's set as default, nothing's muted, volume controls are where they should be AFAIK
-temporarily disabled virtual memory, then defragged... I had great sound for a couple hours, then it went right back to warped. I didn't log out or change anything. Then tried a defrag again/reboot/relog, still warped.
-adjusted settings in Prefs: bandwidth, draw distance... pretty much anything that could cause lag, I've played with.
-cleared cache in SL, browser, QuickTime, comp.. if there was a cache to clear, I did it.


I'm at a loss here. I have to keep my SL audio off all the time, which makes for a pretty poor experience in most cases. (It sure would be nice to hear sounds, voices, music at clubs, and such.)

Does ANYone here have any more ideas for me? It has to be something between SL and my computer not getting along... again, audio works great any other time.
Much thanks in advance!

It sounds like a driver issue. Soundblaster (creative) has been widely reviled for their drivers, particularly in VIsta. But you have XP and it really should work ... did you uninstall the Microsoft drivers before upgrading? I am wondering if some Microsoft default driver component is sneaking in and messing up your SL sound.

I had a weird issue this last weekend with audio drivers: new computer, sound worked fine everywhere EXCEPT:

> all sound in SL was very loud ... had to crank sliders down so it wouldn't distort
> SL voice did not recognize my headset mic
> Skype did not recognize my headset mic

Other IP Voice programs seemed to do fine, although, again, the audio gain was high. Playing mp3's and DVD's and online video seemed fine.

The problem was that the drivers for the C-Media chips had never ever been installed!! The default OS drivers were close enough that nearly all sound worked.
.

Uninstall Microsoft drivers? I don't even know where to find those :-/
(I'm not a whiz by any means... all the stuff I tried came from forum tips and a tech guy from where I bought the cards.) I'll see if I can find em.. thanks for the reply!