Imagine this:
you have successfully installed Linux, the GUI, a few utilities,
and your setup is more or less a default style, with no real special deals.
Its on a simple home system with the standard hardware.
Your 'soundcard' or 'sound' hardware is on the motherboard, which is fairly new ATX thing. In Windows, the OS autodetects and installs some kind of AC/97 sound driver,
which is either in Windows' library of drivers or on the motherboard disk if needed for
older systems like Windows 95 or Dos 3.3 (just kidding).

in the Linux GUI everything looks fine, you can play sound files, or CDs, but of course,
THERE IS NO SOUND. You know its not a hardware problem, since dual-booting into
Windows gives a perfectly functional sound hardware, drivers, and SOUND.

Your kids *need* game sound, and your teens *need* music, and if you can't get that
working, as far as they are concerned, Linux blows.

You are sick of doing damage control for MS Windows everytime they surf for an hour,
and so would like to wean the whole crew off Microslack.

What would a Linux hacker do first?

Assuming you are using Alsa :
1. "alsaconf" to setup to sound card
2. "alsamixer" to set volumes and unmute channels
3. "alsactl store" to save volumes
4. set "alsactl restore" in rc.local or similar to reload volumes at startup

I dropped into a command line from the GUI as 'root' and typed "alsoconf" <rtn>.

The program opened a little DOS-like text window and it found TWO graphics cards.(?)
I picked the first one, and in a few more clicks was finished.
This program automatically ran "alsa"-something else, and said it was all good.
I fired up the CD player and BINGO. SOUND OF MUSIC! awesome.

I haven't run a 'mixer' or anything else yet.
Something's easy.....too easy.

I think I'll just stay at step one for a while....in case it stops, and the pain returns.

Thanks a mill!

I had the same problem in fact it was w/ gentoo but i found that i did not compile the right module 4 my sound card, I re-compile the module n compile the driver as module. the driver u r looking for assuming the soundcard is a VT82C686 AC97 Audio is "via82cxxx_audio"

also check this site it will help u a little more

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/alsa-guide.xml