Mindboggler: YouTube videos won't play all the way to the end - any ideas why they won't play all the way to the end?

Warning: this problem has stumped even some of the best techs Dell has to offer, including some of their supervisors in India and the Phillipines.

The problem: virtually any YouTube video I start eventually locks up and freezes right in the middle of the video. They will not play all the way to the end. I've tested the heck out of it. If I start 10 videos, 8 or 9 of 'em will lock up and freeze.

That little round loading circle (pictured below at the end of this post) then starts to gyrate clockwise in the middle of the screen going round and round and round. This problem appears to be a streaming problem because I'm pretty sure some of the Amazon and Netflix movies have freezed up and some DailyMotion videos, too. Notes:

>i use both IE and Firefox
>i defragged my disc
>i use AT&T DSL
>bandwidth rating: 3mps
>ping milliseconds: 34
>found no virus or anthing malicious
>removed and then reinstalled Adobe Flash 10
>problem occurs even when I'm in safe mode
>the problem is not intermittant, it's consistent, problem occurs with almost every video

If I can't find a cure I might have to reinstall Windows?

WindowsXP
4GB RAM
2.80GHz processor

 

Try go to a friends house and (ask and) stream a video on their internet connection. If it streams fine there, then your internet connection has issues.