This isn't the first time I have installed alsa, so I have some Idea of what I am doing.

Firstly, I am setting up an ooooold computer as my sisters web browsing / assignment typing machine. She wants to listen to music, so, deciding to skip the OSS hastle, I download & install the 2.6.5 kernel with alsa.

Now, on to the bit you are waiting to see :

lspci :
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: ALi Corporation M1531 [Aladdin IV] (rev b3)
0000:00:02.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV] (rev b4)
0000:00:03.0 VGA compatible controller: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3 (rev 01)
0000:00:04.0 Communication controller: Lucent Microelectronics F-1156IV WinModem (V90, 56KFlex) (rev 01)
0000:00:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
0000:00:06.0 USB Controller: OPTi Inc. 82C861 (rev 10)
0000:00:0b.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev 20)

lsmod :
Module Size Used by
snd_cmipci 29556 0
snd_pcm 80804 1 snd_cmipci
snd_page_alloc 8452 1 snd_pcm
snd_opl3_lib 8320 1 snd_cmipci
snd_timer 20772 2 snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib
snd_hwdep 6784 1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_mpu401_uart 5632 1 snd_cmipci
snd_rawmidi 19584 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 6120 2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi
snd 44900 8 snd_cmipci,snd_pcm,snd_opl3_lib,snd_timer,snd_hwdep,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore 7104 1 snd
usbkbd 5504 0
usbcore 87004 2 usbkbd

Note that snd_cmipci had to be manually modprobed, and does not get loaded on boot, dispite correct entries in /etc/modules.conf

uname -a :
Linux P300 2.6.5 #1 Sun Apr 11 14:15:40 EST 2004 i686 GNU/Linux

Now probably the most interesting thing about this is the fact that for some unknown reason, the CMedia card doesn't show up in lspci. I have done a sanity check, and the sound card is definately in the computer. (There are speakers plugged into it)

I have also installed alsa-utils and alsactl restore returns :
alsactl: load_state:1134: No soundcards found...

Any thoughts? I am going to go back to my kernel config and make sure there's nothing I left out in regards to the PCI bus.

Strange that you don't have the lspci any more.....unless the chip is now fried! If you have to manually load it and then it does work, though, then force it by putting hte name of the module in the right place. For the 2.6 kernel, you gotta put it in /etc/modprobe.preload instead of /etc/modules.conf (that's only for 2.4 and before - 2.5 and after use the new place). All tha tis required is the name of the module. No aliases or char-major stuff, so its pretty spiffy.

How do I know this? When I got Mandy 10 beta2 installed, I couldn't get my tulip card to load on boot. After almost coming to post a question here (I will someday, I am sure), I came across the answer by examining the contents of every config file in /etc. Luckily the file was commented as such and I got to stop there - finally. Try it. It may work. But, no lspci doesn't sound good (and no that wasn't a pun). Good luck.

I'm having the same exact problem, although my soundcard is showing up with lsmod:

0000:02:0b.0 Multimedia audio controller: C-Media Electronics Inc CM8738 (rev 10

I ran the alsaconf and it sets up great except for alsamixer which gives me and error. After running alsamixer as both user and root I get ---> alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such device

I made sure to stop all the oss module from loading (cmpci) so that couldnt be conflicting. Not exactly sure where I should go from here. Thanks

Currently running Debian sarge/testing with kernel 2.6.3