Realtek AC97 onboard sound in a laptop.

What version of slack are you using?
Please open a terminal and type "lsmod" and post the output.
Do the same for the command "lspci". You will need root privileges for this, type:
You should also sift through your boot messages for more info, look in the file /var/log/messages for your bootup messages.
I am not 100% on this, but the drivers are already there they just need a bit of tinkering to get them working.

root@eoso-mobile:~# Ismod
-bash: Ismod: command not found
root@eoso-mobile:~# lsmod
Module Size Used by Not tainted
snd-seq 33424 0 (autoclean)
snd-pcm-oss 37736 0 (unused)
snd-mixer-oss 12504 0 [snd-pcm-oss]
usb-storage 66176 0 (unused)
keybdev 2052 0 (unused)
mousedev 4212 1
hid 21220 0 (unused)
usbmouse 2040 0 (unused)
input 3200 0 [keybdev mousedev hid usbmouse]
audio 41752 0 (unused)
snd-usb-audio 46688 2
uhci 24444 0 (unused)
ehci-hcd 17580 0 (unused)
usbcore 59308 1 [usb-storage hid usbmouse audio snd-usb-audio uhci ehci-hcd]
hw_random 2712 0 (unused)
i810_rng 2528 0 (unused)
snd-intel8x0 18924 1
gameport 1420 0 [snd-intel8x0]
snd-mpu401-uart 3200 0 [snd-intel8x0]
snd-rawmidi 12740 0 [snd-usb-audio snd-mpu401-uart]
snd-seq-device 3888 0 [snd-seq snd-rawmidi]
snd-intel8x0m 9544 3
snd-pcm 56072 1 [snd-pcm-oss snd-usb-audio snd-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0m]
snd-timer 13604 0 [snd-seq snd-pcm]
snd-page-alloc 6328 0 [snd-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0m snd-pcm]
snd-ac97-codec 49500 0 [snd-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0m]
snd 30852 5 [snd-seq snd-pcm-oss snd-mixer-oss snd-usb-audio snd-intel8x0 snd-mpu401-uart snd-rawmidi snd-seq-device snd-intel8x0m snd-pcm snd-timer snd-ac97-codec]
soundcore 3396 10 [audio snd]
ohci1394 24112 0 (unused)
ieee1394 42276 0 [ohci1394]
r8169 6508 1
tulip 40352 1
crc32 2880 0 [r8169 tulip]
ds 6548 2
yenta_socket 10336 1
pcmcia_core 39972 0 [ds yenta_socket]
ntfs 51424 1 (autoclean)
ide-scsi 9328 0
agpgart 43940 0 (unused)

root@eoso-mobile:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82865G/PE/P PCI to AGP Controller (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA/DB/EB/ER Hub interface to PCI Bridge (rev c2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) Ultra ATA 100 Storage Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corp. 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 [Mobility Radeon 9600 M10]
03:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 02)
03:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
03:02.0 Unknown mass storage controller: Promise Technology, Inc. 20265 (rev 02)
03:03.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 (rev 10)
03:04.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Linksys Fast Ethernet 10/100 (rev 11)

Slack 10 btw KDE interface.

This indicates your sound is loaded. All you need to do is run "alsaconf" (as root) to configure alsa (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture);
turn your volumes up by running "alsamixer" (no need to be root for this command);
then save your sound levels by typing "alsactl store" (again, as root)
Good luck!

ps. do you run as root all the time? If so, create a new user:
Use the defaults for uid gid etc. choose a password, then log out of your root account and log in as your new user. This is for security which is the essence of linux.
Disregard of course if you already know this!

root@eoso-mobile:~# alsamixer
No mixer elems found

did alsaconf find anything?

yeah my card... and then it said it was going to rcalsasound test but it just sat there and put me back in Konsole.

Try editing /etc/modprobe.conf or /etc/modules.conf (whichever has alsa stuff in already) and adding these lines:
then reboot and see what happens when you try alsamixer again.

How do I edit them?

go into a terminal and type "mc" then navigate using arrow keys and enter key. When you find the correct file, highlight it and pess F4 (see the help bar in mc), edit as nessecary and press F10 to save and exit then reboot :~]

same thing.

tyr the same thing then, but use "alias snd-card-0 snd-intel8x0m" and "alias sound-slot-0 snd-intel8x0m" instead