So i finally decided to give linux a try.
I got most of my stuff set up and i'm gaining a whole lot of respect for this system.
The only thing I'm totally stuck on is my sound card. I can't get it to work and all the reading on google is confusing the heck out of me.

I'm running an m-audio revolution 7.1
Any help or a point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

If you go to the star menu and choose system>configuration>configure your system (you'll need your root password) then click the hardware icon, then the lok at your hardware icon, there should be a section called soundcard. It will tell you which module your soundcard uses. Check if its loaded by opening a shell and becoming root with the command

(edit: im also new to mandriva, so there may be a better (gui) way to do the following)

su -

(i think the dash sets your root environment properly, i always use it anyway)

then type

lsmod

and look for the module.

If its loaded check your volume is not muted.

Thanks jameson for such a prompt reply.

When i go to my hardware setting i do see my sound card using Module: ‎snd-ice1724
Now, when i go to see if it's loaded i get this:

Module Size Used by

snd-usb-audio 61312 0
snd-usb-lib 11136 1 snd-usb-audio
snd-seq-oss 31232 0
snd-seq-midi-event 6080 1 snd-seq-oss
snd-seq 47440 4 snd-seq-oss,snd-seq-midi-event
snd-pcm-oss 49480 0
snd-mixer-oss 17376 1 snd-pcm-oss
snd-ice1724 42436 0
snd-ice17xx-ak4xxx 3008 1 snd-ice1724
snd-ac97-codec 69392 1 snd-ice1724
snd-pcm 81800 3 snd-usb-audio,snd-pcm-oss,snd-ice1724
snd-timer 20356 2 snd-seq,snd-pcm
snd-page-alloc 7400 1 snd-pcm
snd-ak4xxx-adda 5600 2 snd-ice1724,snd-ice17xx-ak4xxx
snd-mpu401-uart 5856 1 snd-ice1724
snd-rawmidi 19300 2 snd-usb-lib,snd-mpu401-uart
snd-seq-device 6344 3 snd-seq-oss,snd-seq,snd-rawmidi
snd 45988 13 snd-usb-audio,snd-seq-oss,snd-seq,snd-pcm-oss,snd-mixer-oss,snd-ice1724,snd-ac97-codec,snd-pcm,snd-timer,snd-ak4xxx-adda,snd-mpu401-uart,snd-rawmidi,snd-seq-device

There's more but this is the only sequency with snd in it...
I checked my volume settings and everything seems to be cranked up to the max.
Is this even the right driver?

I should probably add that i'm using mandrake 10.1 Official (KDE 3.2)

Nevermind, I figured it out. It was muted, duh...

For those of u having a similar problem, go to you sound mixer (ALSA Mixer in my case) and play around with your multitrack volumes. I don't know how but it works fine now. If I could only figure out how to activate my other channels i would be all set

Thanks again jameson