Hi,First of all my box has two sound cards one is an integrated Intel82810 and the other one is a CS4281 (default). I've installed debian sarge and it rocks, but the system can't detect my soundcard CS4281 (can't hear any sound), the weird thing is that when I run alsaconf it detects my soundcard and then I can adjust the volumes using alsamixer (then #alsactl store) . The problem is that after rebooting the system it can't detect my soundcard again: gnome-volume -control shows only CS4299(OSMixer) and Intel82801(alsamixer).

Some clues:

#dmesg
hw_random hardware driver 1.0.0 loaded
cpci_hotplug: CompactPCI Hot Plug Core version: 0.2
pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5
pciehp: acpi_pciehprm:get_device PCI ROOT HID fail=0x1001
shpchp: acpi_shpchprm:get_device PCI ROOT HID fail=0x1001
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 0000:00:1f.5
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 0000:01:0b.0
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:1f.5 to 64
intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured 49634 usecs
intel8x0: clocking to 49080
cannot find the slot for index 0 (range 0-0)
CS4281: probe of 0000:01:0b.0 failed with error -12
Real Time Clock Driver v1.12
input: PC Speaker
parport: PnPBIOS parport detected.
parport0: PC-style at 0x378, irq 7 [PCSPP,TRISTATE]
inserting floppy driver for 2.6.8-2-386

#lsmod
snd_cs4281 21476 0
snd_opl3_lib 9728 1 snd_cs4281
snd_hwdep 9092 1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_intel8x0 33068 3
snd_ac97_codec 59268 2 snd_cs4281,snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm_oss 48168 0
snd_mixer_oss 16640 3 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 85384 3 snd_cs4281,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 23300 2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 11144 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport 4736 3 analog,snd_cs4281,snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart 7296 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi 23204 2 snd_cs4281,snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 7944 2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi
snd 50660 14 snd_cs4281,snd_opl3_lib,snd_hwdep,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_ timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device


It seems that during boot debian can't detect my soundcard, but apparently it loads the right module. It's really weird , do you have any suggestions please?

My solution to the same problem with a Soundblaster 16 card was:
1. Run alsaconf and the sound will be OK (until after next reboot!)
2. Insert this line in the file /etc/modules: snd-sb16
3. Reboot and be happy!
The problem was that alsaconf did not update /etc/modules.
Note: If this will be your solution, then snd-sp16 must be replaced with the right module (driver) name that belongs to your sound card. You will see it during configuring alsa with alsaconf.

Maybe the problem is that the two sound cards conflict somehow. Just a thought, I might be wrong.

Anyway, you could try adding the ALSA modules for the sound card you don't want to use to hotplug's blacklist (in /etc/hotplug/blacklist.d/ or something like that).

Great tip Toreric!!!, It works perfectly, now I can enjoy my mp3 music collection.
Anyway it would be a nice idea to disable the other card form hotplug list, but I need some tutorials about that ...googling ...googling...yeah.
Thank you Linuxquestions, you've never let me down.