Team Fortress 2 inexplicable freeze/stutter

[starkwhite]

I recently installed Team Fortress 2 on my desktop, but now I cannot enter any game without this weird stutter effect happening, where I can play at very smooth FPS for about 5 seconds, then for fifteen seconds it just freezes and plays a repeated sound loop of what was happening when the freeze occurred, then repeates the cycle ad nauseum. It happens as soon as Create/join any game and persists until I exit.

I have tried reinstalling the game, lowering the graphical settings, raising the graphical settings (hey, works on Age of Conan:P), and disabling my sound card. My graphics drivers are up-to-date, but this doesn't seem like a performance issue, so I'm really baffled as to what's going on.

Here are some relevant exerpts from my Dxdiag log:

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: NVIDIA
System Model: AWRDACPI
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3700+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 434MB used, 2025MB available
Windows Dir: E:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6800
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6800
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_00C1&SUBSYS_C3833842&REV_A2
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: SyncMasterH9NY604764
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.7516 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 5/2/2008 22:46:00, 6108160 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys
Mini VDD Date: 5/2/2008 22:46:00, 6554496 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4381-11CF-AE46-88E303C2CB35}

Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Realtek AC97 Audio
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0059&SUBSYS_1C0C147B&REV_A2
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: ALCXWDM.SYS
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.6060 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
Date and Size: 3/31/2006 14:38:00, 3960896 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
HW Accel Level: Full
Cap Flags: 0xF5F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 8000, 192000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 26, 24
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 26, 24
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Registry: OK
Sound Test Result: Not run

I should also add that this doesn't happen in any other games, not even other source-based games. Just TF2.

Any help at all would be appreciated!

[pharoah]

normally that sound looping issue is driver related.i know you have reinstalled the game,but have you tried reinstalling your video driver?also if you do be sure to install uninstall in safe mode.

[starkwhite]

No good.

I uninstalled in safe mod/ran driver sweeper, then reinstalled the latest drivers, problem persists.

Any other ideas?:(