Windows 7 - Streaming audio won't play through Windows Media Player

Hi,

This has been a frustrating problem; I'm hoping that the symptoms are specific enough that it won't be impossible to diagnose.

A couple of weeks ago, my Dell Inspiron 1525 running Windows 7 Home Premium suddenly stopped streaming audio. But not all audio. Here is all of the information I have, let me know if you have any questions:

1. When I try to stream audio using the Windows Media Player plugin in the browers (including EI 9, FF 4, and Chrome 12), 1 hear approximately 1 second of the audio stream, and then it goes silent, with faint sputters and sounds where the audio should be.

2. Video will display without corresponding audio.

3. This seems to only effect mono streams and not stereo streams.

4. Other streaming audio (YouTube, etc.) seems to work without issue.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can make.

Glen