Sudden Audio Distortion-Gateway p7805fx

Hi, Folks,

I hope someone can give me some ideas on this.

The sound on my Gateway p7805fx (Windows 7 Ultiimate x64) has been rather distorted in the last few days, especially when I play any video or audio online, and it appears to be getting worse. It still sounds okay if I play something on the player (I just use the Windows Media Player), but I've noticed that if I download a vid or a song, it will now sometimes sound distorted, something that wasn't happening even yesterday.

I checked this out through both Firefox and IE, thinking it might be the browser, but that is not the case. I looked for information on what sound card this computer has, but couldn't find out what it was.
I never have been able to download the NVidia soundcard--the computer claims the necessary hardware is not present--but this sound problem is new and worrisome.

That's about as much information as I can give at this point, since I haven't any real clue what I'm looking for. Any suggestions or questions that can give me an idea what to look for would be greatly appreciated.

By the by, does anyone actually listen to anything on this computer's regular speakers? They're the most pitiful little things I've ever encountered. Even my old Gateway 6023GP sounds better than these poor lads. Kind of sick for a gaming computer. Otherwise, I love it and Windows 7.

Thanks in advance...I really hope this is something simple.