Redhat doesn't automatically detect the sound card on my
machine. However, When I use the free drivers downloaded from
OSS website (www.opensound.com), it works just fine. Since the
software is time limited, it wont work after the trial period.
I heard that Redhat does come with OSS support. Therefore, I
just compiled a new kernel with OSS support built into it. But, it
didn't help. With the new kernel, I get an error msg saying that
either the plugin is missing or sound card is being used by
someone else. I believe that messages comes as a result of
sound card not being probed.
I am not too sure how to proceed further. Do I have to do some
insmod or something like that?
Thanks,

I think so, have you tried modprobe oss?

Oh wait, I see you said "built into it" so I guess that means, not as module... Maybe you could try switching to a module type loading.

Cool

What Pavillion do you have?

No! I haven't tried modprobe oss. BTW, what does it do?
I have a Pavilion 8670C.
how can I do "module type loading"?

Oh sorry concoran, I meant during your kernel compile, to make OSS module instead of built in. If in make xconfig, you can do it by clicking M instead of Y or in make menuconfig, by pressing M instead of Y.

Sorry for the confusion...

I will poke around about your pavillion and see if I can find out about the soundcard.

Crystal Soundfusion (CS4280), would appear to be the most common soundcard shipped with those.

I don't know if the 2.4.19 kernel ships with support or not for it, but it wouldn't hurt to check anyway.

Cool

Oh and what does 'modprobe oss' do? It probes the OSS drivers, and hopefully allows you to have sound.

I did modprobe oss, but it didn't come up with anything. I also
searched the entire kernel src directory for any files containing
oss, but other than oss.h, I didn't find any module or object file.
How do I make sure that the compilation has built support for oss
in the kernel?
It's a Conexant/Rockwell modem / sound card combo.