i dont have any sound. im pretty much running a fresh installation of mandrake and have not had any sound since my installation. i have no idea how to even begin troubleshooting this problem other than asking for help.

What kernel are you using. If it's a 2.6.x version run alsaconf at the command line. If you have a 2.4.x version or earlier go to the ALSA Project site and try using that. It would greatly help if you could give us the type of Sound Card you have in case there are special instructions or drivers for it.

lol, i wouldnt be here if i had any idea how to identify any of that stuff. how do i find out what kind of card i have? and i dont know what kernel i have either. i barely know what a kernel is. i know that i got nvidia stuff for graphics cause when i run kde i get a big nvidia graphic before it loads. doesnt nvidia handle sound too? i dont know, i wish i could be of more help. sorry. let me know if i can do anything......

The kind of sound card you have should be in your computers documentation or on the manufaturers website. Unless someone knows different you are going to have to download and install ALSA. ALSA has documentation on how to install it and it should give you a basic understanding on how to install programs from source code (how most linux programs are installed). It might seem prudent but you might want to pick up a book like "linux for non-geeks" or "Linux for Dummies". The fact that your using Linux shows your smart, you just need to learn more about computers in general to use Linux effectively and to get better help with it.

Also the kernel is what makes Linux work. Everything else is icing on the cake.

actually, im not completely computer illiterate. i have a bachelors in computer science and am i-net certified. ive worked as a web programmer for about a year if you add it all up. just dont know everything, like what kind of sound card i have. i did take a linux class in college but forget most of it cept the basics. i would love to put my programming knowledge to use in linux. but first things first and i gotta learn how to run this thing.

another problem we have reached is that my distro didnt come with any development pakages and so i dont have a compiler that is needed in order to install programs from source. the problem im finding, well with gcc in linux anyway, is that i need a compiler to compile the source for the compiler. so, i am currently looking for an executable compiler.




oh, one more thing. i am typing this from my desktop wich is currently the problem. however, this computer has the same linux installation from the same source as my laptop. my laptop has sound. this computer doesnt. so i dont think its a matter of my distro not having the packages required. i think , or maybe i need a different package because of different hardware? is that what your suggesting?