I have a post in the linux n00bz section on this topic, but it was originally a question pertaining to compiz-fusion:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-stuff-635782/

I think maybe with a more definite subject I could find someone that could help me.

My Audio device is: nVidia Corporation MCP61 High Definition Audio (rev a2) (On-board)
I know for a fact it works because I dual boot with Windows XP and it works with that. Does anybody have any advice?

To get the post rolling, Etch kernel is a bit old now, if your hardware is newer the audio chipset might not be supported by etch's alsa version. Your best bet would be to either look in Testing or Sid for newer versions or download sources and compile from the alsa website. Then an alsaconf as root should do the trick. You chip is most probably supported by the snd_hda_intel alsa module.

Maybe just running sudo /usr/share/alsa-base/snddevices and alsaconf as root would be enough to get your card identified and configured, worth a shot.

That and also make sure that you uncheck the mute button under Volume properties.

Another thing you could try is to load pcm module:
you will require that to enable sound in GNOME.

Also install alsamixer.

thveillon, Would you suggest I start over and go with Lenny or Sid? I have no problem with reinstalling, but would Lenny recognize my sound card right off the bat?

PS: I just realized I was 'scrolling' down to the bottom to read the last post - Mouse scrolling was giving me some headaches and I'm very happy that all that tinkering around with my xorg.conf file actually worked! Yippeee!

No, no, there's no need to reinstall in Debian to go up one level (just editing the sources.list), but anyway you can stay with Stable but just grab never alsa sources from either a Debian Testing or Unstable repository (just add one to your sources.list for that purpose and comment it out after, or just search for the package on http://www.debian.org/distrib/packages), or download it from alsa website and compile it yourself by following alsa's wiki how-to.

Alternatively you could install a never kernel which will give you access to the never modules that goes with it. (again add a Testing source to the sources.list and install "linux-image-whatever_fits_you.deb", or download from Debian along with never alsa package).

But before going ballistic, did you try a few of the commands given to you ? Or check on alsa's compatibility list what version is supporting your chipset ?

That is very bad advice. Do not mix Testing or Unstable apps with Etch, the Stable release. It's OK to mix Testing and Unstable, in fact I recommend it, but Stable is just that ... stable. Don't mess with it.

It's 99% likely that you can get your sound card working in Etch, with the advice you have above.

I completely agree with you rickh, but in a non-critical desktop environment having a piece of hardware such as the sound card not working might be a case for a small exception... But yes, first try the basic configuration steps, and then as a last resort consider breaking your system ;-)

alsaconf doesn't see my sound card (as it was the first thing I tried) but maybe I just don't have the right package installed... What should I be downloading from synaptic/aptitude?

Try adding a line with "options snd-hda-intel position_fix=1 model=3stack" to the end of /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base and, umm, reboot.

No luck with this.

What does an return?

I think you may have a problem if you're using Etch's stock kernel, 2.6.18 ...

Googling around a bit suggests that support for that chip requires ALSA 1.0.13 (which Etch has) and Kernel 2.6.19 or greater.

If you want to stick with Etch, familiarize yourself with www.backports.org. That is a quasi-official repository to get newer packages than normal into the Stable release. They have kernels up to 2.6.22. Find the "instructions" page first and get backports built correctly into your sources.list file.

Returns nothing. On a side note, what does the 'lsmod' command do?

Turns out I already have the backports repo in my sources.list, but synaptic only finds a linux-image 2.6.18

Oups ! You've got a problem ! "lsmod" lists all loaded modules, and snd* are alsa sound related modules. Let's see if they are at least present but not loaded :