Vista Tutorial - hp laptop Vista 32bit is driving me insane!!!

K so here's the thing I have started to get drove nuts Recently my HP Laptop which is a Vista Home premium 32bit has decided that when it plays music or sounds it wants to make the song skip and jump not bad it still plays it just like you were hitting fast forward. It's not bad but its so annoying I've updated the driver (Conexant High Definition SmartAudio 221) and also turned of the enhancements and still it's doing it. I'm kind of ticked because I have only owned this lap top for about five to six months. Can anyone help me or did I pay this amount of cash for a defect? Also while I am at it when trying to sing with a mic on my laptop the music is choppy and my voice fades in and out its not good I was gonna let the mic thing go, but the sound has to be fixed it sounds possessed half of the time! Thanx