Audio Dropout Problem

Hello, I have problems with my the sound on my laptop that I can’t correct no matter what I try. Dropout is the symptom and happens in any application that uses sound: Sonar, Forte Performer (soft synth hosting application), Windows Media Player, watching movies or videos online, etc. I’ve tried adjusting latency, experimenting with the buffer, and lately bought a new Hard Drive that will be dedicated to just audio (ie: no internet, no network connection to my Desktop, no superfluous software, etc. I can’t even get it to work correctly with this new drive which has nothing else on it but the soundcard (Edirol UA-25EX). The only thing I can think of is perhaps it’s something to do with the IRQ. Is there a way to force the assignment of a lower number? Whenever I’ve installed the soundcard, it just installs down at the very bottom of the IRQ list. I don’t really understand this stuff, but from what I’ve read in an M-Audio article on IRQ's, you need an IRQ slot of 15 or lower (physical IRQ’s), and one that isn’t shared. The IRQ assignment is low (23, which would make it a virtual IRQ, and it’s all the way at the bottom of the list). I’ve checked per the article just mentioned, and although it’s not shared with anything, the article also mentions that you can’t see if a virtual IRQ is shared. How can you reassign to a lower IRQ if you have no control over the assignment to begin with? I’m not even sure this is necessarily the answer to my woes, but it’s something I haven’t tried. As you can see below, there should be more than enough processing power to run a few soft synths inside of either Sonar or through the hosting software Forte Performer. I’ve been using the USB connection in the back of the computer (and it's dedicated only to the soundcard) because a few people online mentioned that the ones in the back are more “directly connected”, whatever that means…. I’m totally frustrated with this…. Please help! Link to the M-Audio IRQ article: http://www.m-audio.com/in...ea51e73104295aec1f755b My info: Dell Latitude D820 (Intel Core 2 Duo T7200, 2GHz, 667Mhz 4M L2 Cache, 2GB DDR2-667 SDRAM, Toshiba 7200 RPM SATA Drive.

Are you using ASIO driver mode (not ASIO)? 

With newer versions of Windows, you don't have to worry about the IRQs. 

What softsynths are you trying to use? 

What is this Forte Performer? I've never heard of it. Does everything else work without this?