LinuxQuestions.org - Onboard sound stutters

I've got experience with using Linux, but I'm still pretty clueless when I have to get my hands dirty. :) Here's what I get when I lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8378 [KM400/A] Chipset Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 PCI Bridge
00:0a.0 Communication controller: Agere Systems (former Lucent Microelectronics) V.92 56K WinModem (rev 03)
00:0b.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 80)
00:0f.0 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VIA VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (rev 80)
00:0f.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)
00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 81)
00:10.4 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 86)
00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8237 ISA bridge [KT600/K8T800 South]
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] (rev 78)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8378 [S3 UniChrome]Integrated Video (rev 01)

I've got a Compaq SR1300NX, which uses an ASUS A7V8X-LA motherboard (with, as far as I understand from specs on the Compaq site, the VIA KM400A northbridge and VT8237 southbridge). I'm using ASP Linux, which is based on Fedora Core.

My problem is with sound. The onboard AC97 gets detected fine. When I run soundcard detection (system-config-soundcard) and, when I test the sound, I hear a weird stuttering, which is quite drawn out. Aside from this, my system is completely silent. :)

Any ideas? I've googled for so long, and I'm just getting more confused.

Thanks for any help,
Baltika