Finally got back to debian after testing both SuSE and Mandrake, both proved to be a dissapointment. Now I've run in to a little problem that I have not been able to resolve from any information I've gathered through searching.
I used to have a problem before with not being able hear sound after entering KDE on my old debian system, but all I had to do then was to make some changes in KDE's soundsystem. Even though the problem I have now shows the same characteristics as the old one, meaning the module seems to be loaded just fine and playing music with XMMS also seems to be working but there's no output. I've used both kMix in kde and aumix to see what the different volumes were and to check they weren't muted. With my old problem I could still listen to music before I entered KDE but now I can't even do that? It's like I'm muted and I have no idea what causes it, maybe alsa loads and messes thing up?
After reading another thread here I thought I'd test these changes to /etc/discover.conf

first I tried:
skip via82cxxx_audio

then I tried:
skip via82cxxx

Both times the module still loaded. Here's the output I get from lsmod:

Module Size Used by Tainted: P
input 3040 0 (autoclean)
apm 8364 1 (autoclean)
af_packet 11048 1 (autoclean)
nvidia 4587212 6
ehci-hcd 14796 0 (unused)
usb-uhci 19504 0 (unused)
usbcore 52268 1 [ehci-hcd usb-uhci]
via82cxxx_audio 17404 1
ac97_codec 11252 0 [via82cxxx_audio]
uart401 5860 0 [via82cxxx_audio]
sound 48872 0 [via82cxxx_audio uart401]
soundcore 3268 4 [via82cxxx_audio sound]
ide-scsi 8272 0
sata_via 2200 1
libata 21764 0 [sata_via]
ne2k-pci 4192 0 (unused)
8390 5280 0 [ne2k-pci]
8139too 12328 0 (unused)
mii 1952 0 [8139too]
crc32 2848 0 [8390 8139too]
sk98lin 123880 1
ntfs 45024 1 (autoclean)
nls_cp437 4284 3 (autoclean)
vfat 8716 1 (autoclean)
fat 27576 0 (autoclean) [vfat]
dm-mod 36120 0 (unused)
sd_mod 10764 2
scsi_mod 86020 3 [ide-scsi sata_via libata sd_mod]
ide-cd 27040 0
cdrom 26212 0 [ide-cd]
rtc 5768 0 (autoclean)
ext3 65388 1 (autoclean)
jbd 34628 1 (autoclean) [ext3]
ide-detect 288 0 (autoclean) (unused)
via82cxxx 9256 1 (autoclean)
ide-disk 12416 4 (autoclean)
ide-core 91800 4 (autoclean) [ide-scsi ide-cd ide-detect via82cxxx ide-disk]
unix 12720 127 (autoclean)

Anybody have a clue?

have you added yourself to the audio group?

#adduser <user name> <group>

#adduser borje audio

also join the following groups, one at a time:

sudo
users
cdrom
dip

That didn't help...
Were already member of audio and cdrom. Every user is automaticly a member of the group users...
What does membership in the groups sudo and dip do? And any other ideas how to solve my sound problem?

then, it must be a kde problem. As for the rest: google is your friend.

Did you read my post? I can't get the sound to work before I've started KDE. Tried it using a MP3-player in the console before starting X.
As for google, tried it but it didn't help...

look into /dev if your sound devices are group audio. can you play as root? cat some.wav > /dev/dsp.
you can use /etc/modules for loading the modules you need and deinstall discover (if you don't frequently change hardware). what changes have you done to that system in comparison with the old one?

sl mritch.

"I used to have a problem before with not being able hear sound after entering KDE on my old debian system, but all I had to do then was to make some changes in KDE's soundsystem. Even though the problem I have now shows the same characteristics as the old one,"

Key phrases:

"after entering KDE"
"same characteristics as the old one"

Hmmm, KDE, huh? What does that tell you?
Does that mean you had sound in Gnome or any window manager, but not in KDE?

I couldn't see any mention of your kernel, which one are you using? 2.4 or 2.6? Are you on Sid? Have you checked the BTS (debian bug tracking system)?

I will asume you installed your sound module with modconf, installed sndconfig and configured it, and installed aumix and calibrated the sound, and as you said, you belong to the audio group.

check this page:

Unofficial #debian channel FAQ on freenode
http://www.linuks.mine.nu/debian-faq-wiki/

If it doesn't help, and no angel comes from heaven to save you:

1. you still can do a search on this site.
2. check with the boys at the #debian on the IRC, (Freenode server), they are pretty good, but i would advice you to change your attitude.
3. also with the boys at #debian-kde and #kde on the IRC.
4. you can look at the archives of the debian users mailing list at debian.org.
5. any forum from kde.org

good luck

Didn't mean to offend you macondo but you seemed to have misinterpered my first post. What I meant by "same characteristics as the old one" was "meaning the module seems to be loaded just fine and playing music with XMMS also seems to be working but there's no output" but the difference now is that "With my old problem I could still listen to music before I entered KDE but now I can't even do that?" (The last problem was with KDE saving volumes and setting them when entering KDE) I realize that my intro to my problem was a bit long and maybe I overdid it with useless facts of the old problem.

I didn't install it with modconf, it was already set up by the system. This is a netinstall, kinda funny, I don't know if it's sid or sarge because I downloaded from what should have been the sid directory but the filename was sarge so I guess it is sarge... Kernel is 2.4.27.

I want to thank you though, for after an apt-get on modconf, and running it, it made me realize that the module ac97_plugin_ad1980 wasn't loaded and that solved the problem so thanks. And thank you for your help too mritch.

I still wonder though what the groups sudo and dip grants you.

"I didn't install it with modconf, it was already set up by the system. This is a netinstall, kinda funny, I don't know if it's sid or sarge because I downloaded from what should have been the sid directory but the filename was sarge so I guess it is sarge... Kernel is 2.4.27."

just look at your sources.list, it should say sarge or sid.

everything is well, that ends well, no offense taken.

dip=dialup ip

from google.com/linux
http://howtos.linux.com/guides/nag2/...slip.dip.shtml

do the same for sudo.