I am new to linux and would appreciate any insight into configuring sound on a gateway model 3018 laptop. I have done considerable reading on sound issues on many websites but I seem to have hit a wall. All the hardware is recognized, including the wireless card using Fedora 3.

kernel: uname -a
Linux linuxremote.newdatasys.com 2.6.11-1.35_FC3 #1 Mon Jun 13 00:52:08 EDT 2005 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

output from lsmod:
snd_intel8x0 34829 0
snd_ac97_codec 64401 2 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm_oss 47609 0
snd_mixer_oss 17217 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 97993 3 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 29765 1 snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 9673 3 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
gameport 4801 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_mpu401_uart 8769 1 snd_intel8x0
snd_rawmidi 26725 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 8137 1 snd_rawmidi
snd 54053 10 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uar t,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore 9889 1 snd

ouput from /sbin/lspci

root@linuxremote sbin]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corp. 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corp. 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corp. 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 83)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
02:07.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments: Unknown device 8031
02:07.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments: Unknown device 8032
02:07.3 Unknown mass storage controller: Texas Instruments: Unknown device 8033
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev 01)
02:09.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LANController (rev 03)

I checked to see if the sound server is enabled, as will as all volume controls on full.

The system recognizes the sound card, but I hear no test sound. The only sound emitted is the two beeps when the cisco wireless network card is recognized during the boot process.
Having spent most of my free time researching how to enable sound on a laptop, I seem to be getting nowhere. Being new to linux I am unsure whether to recompile the kernel with a new sound modules and new drivers, or try to make a new loadable module. Do I try to change the IRQ's also of the sound device?

I would appreciate any guidance on this matter as I don't have the time to keep researching this topic. Am I missing anything simple here?

Please help

You should check your configured mixer (alsamixer, ossmixer).there are a number of sound options that maybe muted. I unmuted ADC DAC lines and raised the levels to full to get my sound working on a IBM Thinkpad w/ Fedora 4. You may have to try different combinations but I would definitely begin there.
HTH