Ok...so i have redhat 9...i had redhat 7.3 before w/ the same problem (just did an upgrade so i have all my data) but the problem persists:

i have a soundblaster live! audio card, and when i installed 7.3 audio worked fine in xmms, etc. so i installed the bttv module to get tv support, and then installed xawtv for my ati tv wonder VE tv card. fine. Tv works, audio FOR TV works fine as well, but regular system audio and music etc doest work. Well i removed the tv card and upon upgrading to redhat 9, it prompts me if i want to remove bttv. Actually i do since i no longer want to watch tv in linux. so I uninstall bttv, still no sound. sndconfig wont play any sound when i select soundblaster live! either....
I then find all the xawtv / motv files and delete them. How can i :

a) figure out what sound configuration i have, where my sound is actually going to...
b) get system sound back...run a config program or something and have it detect and setup my audio
c) is the bttv drivers really gone?

if you guys could help me, i'd really appreciate it. been tackling this for a long time now. thanks.

It may not be the best solution, but try this:
Open your computer and remove your sound card. Start linux. You will be prompted to remove the drivers. Select yes. Stop linux and reinstall the sound card. Start linux and the drivers should be reinstalled automatically. Check to see if sound works.

The bttv drivers are somewhere on your harddrive (in /lib/modules/*). Check /etc/modules.conf to see if bttv is started.

you shouldn't be deleting modules from your system. if lsmod doesn't show up bttv then it is not loaded and so that's that out of the equation. are the sound levels simply set to zero? (check aumix, kmix or whatver you wish).

removing hardware shuoldn't be required.

I know, but it's a last resort solution (or maybe a Windows solution)

hrm..ok haven't tried actually removing soundcard yet...thats a good idea. here's what's in my /etc/modules.conf:

alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
alias eth0 3c59x
alias sound-slot-0 via82cxxx_audio
post-install sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -L >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -S >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
alias sound-slot-1 emu10k1
post-install sound-slot-1 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -L >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove sound-slot-1 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -S >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
alias usb-controller usb-uhci
alias char-major-81 bttv

and yeah, kmix has all the jazz turned up. when tv was going audio was only coming in from the line-in channel.

any ideas about how to remove that alias char-major 81 bttv? is it relevant? thanks

how to remove it? open in a text editor, remove the line. simple as that.

ok yall...i removed the sound card...deleted the drivers..then plugged the card back in..and it detected everything..installed emu10k1 drivers i believe. here's /etc/modules.conf now:

lias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
alias eth0 3c59x
alias sound-slot-0 via82cxxx_audio
post-install sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -L >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove sound-slot-0 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -S >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
pre-remove sound-slot-1 /bin/aumix-minimal -f /etc/.aumixrc -S >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
alias usb-controller usb-uhci
alias sound-slot-1 emu10k1

still no sound :/ do i need different drivers? what else could be the problem?

ok what is actaully going wrong? like i've already said, it just sounds like the volume is turned down.

ok yea dude...kmix volumes are all up...the .aumixrc file /etc/ has all the levels at around 60 / 70 ish.

This is what i see in my kde hardware browser under Sound Cards
SB Live! EMU10k1 - Driver: emu10k1
VT82C686 AC97 Audio Controller - Driver: via82cxxx_audio

and since in etc/modules.conf the two sound slots are filled by these two (with appropriate drivers)...my only thinking is that the slots arent selected somehow?

sndconfig auto-detects the AC97 Audio Controller, but no audio sample is heard. so i select SoundBlaser Live! and still no audio sample heard. any other files i can check?
i'm thoroughly confused :-/ thanks yo.

i checked out dmesg when it boots up..and i found this:

Via 686a/8233/8235 audio driver 1.9.1-ac2
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 00:07.5
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 00:0a.0
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:07.5 to 64
ac97_codec: AC97 Audio codec, id: 0x8384:0x7609 (SigmaTel STAC9721/23)
via82cxxx: Codec rate locked at 48Khz
via82cxxx: board #1 at 0xD000, IRQ 10
Creative EMU10K1 PCI Audio Driver, version 0.20, 17:28:18 Mar 13 2003
PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 00:0a.0
PCI: Sharing IRQ 10 with 00:07.5
emu10k1: EMU10K1 rev 7 model 0x8061 found, IO at 0xe400-0xe41f, IRQ 10
ac97_codec: AC97 Audio codec, id: 0x8384:0x7608 (SigmaTel STAC9708)
emu10k1: SBLive! 5.1 card detected

now are the two conflicting? is that possible? or are they together somehow (a creative thing)?

ok yall...figured it out. folks over at #creative on irc.freenode.net helped me out:

the via AC97 motherboard audio was being loaded up 1st before the soundblaster live! the via was on /dev/dsp0 and the sblive on /dev/dsp1

a simple cat <someaudiofile> > /dev/dsp1 played a sound. so disabled the onboard driver in BIOS, and rm /dev/dsp, and then did:
ln -s /dev/dsp0 /dev/dsp

and presto: audio! hope this helped. thanks again yall anyways.