the kernel comes with alsa but the problem is i think only the newer alsa you downloaded support the dell sounblaster
(it's different OEM somehow)
kind of a winmodem soundblaster
so you are on the right track i think
first thing i remember is disabled the PnP OS setting in the BIOS
this is crucial
also try adding this as well to what i said before (this might be the trouble)
alias char-major-14-* soundcore
then try
modprobe soundcore
if that doesn't work then you have forgotten to enable sound support in your kernel.
you will have to go back and enable that core sound support needed by all drivers
(i would leave the alsa stuff out of the kernel since you are building it yourself)
also when you built alsa you used
./configure --with-cards=emu10k1x --with-oss=yes --with-sequencer=yes
so you built the oss compatability stuff yes ??
if modprobe soundcore worked move on to
modprobe snd
then try to load the other modules one at a time
i coppied this from someone with a dell laptop with this crazy card (it's lsmod output)
might at least get more of an idea if something is missing altogether by trying to load these
snd_pcm_oss 51336 0
snd_mixer_oss 19328 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_emu10k1x 13576 0
snd_pcm 91648 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_emu10k1x
snd_timer 25856 1 snd_pcm
snd_ac97_codec 71172 1 snd_emu10k1x
snd 52868 6
snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_emu10k1x,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_ac97_codec
soundcore 8672 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 11784 2 snd_emu10k1x,snd_pcm
if you reach a total dead end oss now supports this card as well
http://www.opensound.com/
and is somewat easier to use
