ORIGINAL: GeneG
Any chance you are working on the sound problem? I have a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 card (most recent drivers) and the music keeps cutting out. I can't even hear the engine sounds at all even with the music off. I tried to remove hardware acceleration but it made no difference.
Have you tried adjusting your sound card acceleration? This usually fixes the sound issue you mention.
Go to the [link=http://www.inertiasoft.com/fsonefaq/index.html]InertiaSoft FAQs[/link] and read (Q1014-FS1, 10/14/06). At this point in time it is at the bottom of the page (but that may change over time as new FAQs get added).