[Mac]

Instead of turning off the audio hardware acceleration, have you tried turning it down just a little bit?

Mine is on the knotch just below full and everything works for me. But yeah, it is definately a sound problem... Since you've made sure that you have the most up to date sound drivers, perhaps the card is bad?

My comp used to lock up before, and when I slowed down the sound acceleration, it fixed the problem. Keep us posted!