My machine is running FC4. There is sound on the Motherboard (which is disabled in the BIOS) and a soundcard. The Hardware Browser reports the soundcard as "C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738"

The reason for having the sound card was I want to be able to record sound and I want to be able to monitor what I am recording. I assumed (rightly or wrongly) that the MB sound would not allow me to do that. The Soundcard has allowed me to listen to what is being recorded.

However, the soundcard has needed a huge signal to get a decent recording level - and I wondered whether the MB sound might do a better job. So I took out the sound card, Enabled the MB sound in the BIOS and tried again. I got nothing. So I put everything back (Sound card, BIOS). This is where I wished I had left everything alone.

The sound was awful. Very loud and distorted. I tried turning it down in Volume Control but the sliders made no difference - then Nothing.

Now, in the Alsa Mixer, the Master Volume (in the Playback Tab) sits on Zero (right down at the bottom) and the Icon indicates that the channel is enabled. However, if I move the slider up, the icon indicates that the channel is muted. So I can either have sound but inaudible or whatever volume I like but muted! The same thing happens if I try to adjust PC Speaker.

I have updated to get all the latest software etc.

Any ideas as to what might be going wrong?

Thanks in advance

Thanks to all who read my posting and thought "Hmmm!"

Turning the machine off overnight (and a bit of prayer) seems to have cured the problems.

I'll leave it well alone now.

Ian