Sound blaster card stopped making sound. Tested sound blaster in another box and works fine. Swapped another sound blaster card in problem box and no sound. I Poked around in the bios and settings look fine. AC'97 is enabled. snd_emu10k1 module is loaded. OS is Slitaz 4.0 linux kernel 2.6.37. Tried other linux distros, no sound. Would like to know if I can trouble shoot card from command line? Box is a Sony Vaio pcv-rz 44g.

There are a lot of Soundblaster PCI cards. Which model is tried, e. g. post output from lspci -v.
Most people don't know which hardware (Processor, RAM, mainboard, …) is included in your Sony Vaio pcv-rz 44g. Please be verbose about this, e. g. with outputs from dmesg, cat /proc/cpuinfo and lspci -v.

I have the requested info:

~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 15
model : 2
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
stepping : 9
cpu MHz : 2793.334
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 1
apicid : 0
initial apicid : 0
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe pebs bts cid xtpr
bogomips : 5586.66
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 128
address sizes : 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

processor : 1
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 15
model : 2
model name : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
stepping : 9
cpu MHz : 2793.334
cache size : 512 KB
physical id : 0
siblings : 2
core id : 0
cpu cores : 1
apicid : 1
initial apicid : 1
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
f00f_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 2
wp : yes
flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe pebs bts cid xtpr
bogomips : 5584.84
clflush size : 64
cache_alignment : 128
address sizes : 36 bits physical, 32 bits virtual
power management:

~$ lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Memory at f8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P PCI to AGP Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 64
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=64
Memory behind bridge: fc800000-fe8fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: ebf00000-efefffff

00:03.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P PCI to CSA Bridge (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 64
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000afff
Memory behind bridge: fe900000-fe9fffff

00:06.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P Processor to I/O Memory Interface (rev 02)
Flags: fast devsel
Memory at fecf0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 8159
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at e000 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 8159
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at e400 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 8159
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at e800 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 8159
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at ec00 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 8159
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
Memory at febffc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=64
I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff
Memory behind bridge: fea00000-feafffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: eff00000-f7efffff

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 8159
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
I/O ports at fc00 [size=16]
Memory at 80000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Kernel driver in use: PIIX_IDE

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 8159
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 10
I/O ports at 0400 [size=32]

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV5M64 [RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro] (rev 15) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: VISIONTEK Device 0002
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 10
Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at ec000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M]
Expansion ROM at fe6f0000 [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: <access denied>

02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82547EI Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 815d
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
Memory at fe9e0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
I/O ports at ac00 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: e1000
Kernel modules: e1000

03:0a.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 05)
Subsystem: Creative Labs CT4850 SBLive! Value
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 22
I/O ports at b800 [size=32]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: EMU10K1_Audigy
Kernel modules: snd-emu10k1

03:0a.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! Game Port (rev 05)
Subsystem: Creative Labs Gameport Joystick
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64
I/O ports at bc00 [size=8]
Capabilities: <access denied>

03:0b.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16 (CX23416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 801d
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
Memory at f0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: <access denied>

03:0e.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): NEC Corporation uPD72874 IEEE1394 OHCI 1.1 3-port PHY-Link Ctrlr (rev 01) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device 811e
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 5
Memory at feaff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: <access denied>

The ram capacity is 2GB

Are you sure you don't just need to unmute something? Or maybe select the correct audio source somewhere? There's alsamixer in the command-line, and pavucontrol in the GUI (they don't do the same thing).

I just tried a usb sound adapter and it showed up in alsa mixer and I selected it, but no sound. Various audio players were tried. If there is a universal unmute setting in the os, I am not sure what that would be.To make sure the usb sound adapter is being used, would I have to remove the pci sound card or does alsa mixer do that?

Your outputs show an ancient Pentium 4 box without any onboard sound device. This may be possible but it's uncommon. Therefore it looks a little bit strange that you can enable AC'97 in BIOS. Try to disable it. Open a CLI, become root, run alsamixer -c 0 and check which "sound device" is displayed. If alsamixer -c 0 doesn't display your Soundblaster card (Creative Soundblaster, emu10-k1, …) try alsamixer -c 1 etc.. If Master or PCM of your Soundblaster card is muted you can't hear any sound. Both must be unmuted and set to values > 0.

OT: Your kernel isn't configured optimally. Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge, Creative Labs SB Live! Game Port, Internext Compression Inc iTVC16 and especially FireWire (IEEE 1394) are supported by Linux kernel, but any modules are loaded for these devices on your box.

It worked! I opened alsamixer as root and it played an mp3 file. If it worked as root, does that point to an ownership/permissions problem?

yes as local user
should return at least audio and video

see step 6 how to fix....or use commands
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Audio_troubleshooting

I need to clarify my success at generating sound. I tried a usb sound card as another option that did not work until I tried root. It now works fine without root in slitaz, not sure why. Using knoppix, I have sound playing games with the usb sound card and when using sound blaster, I can raise the main and pcm output levels in kmix in knoppix and the hiss out of the speakers distinctly increases and decreases with the slider control movement.That to me would indicate that the sound blaster is alive but not getting sound data.

Please, Please, Please!

When you post screen output as you did above use the code tags so the detail is shown as output and the original screen formatting is retained so it is more easily readable.

You have been around long enough that you should be aware of the code tags and understand that doing so makes your posts easier for others to parse and read.
This is much easier to read than the following which you posted.