it boots, and everything, xmms starts, and i get peaks with the equilizer scope as if music were playing, but, no sound is coming out of my speakers. the modules load fine at boot...the speakers are plugged in and working fine, cuz i get throughput with the pre2 kernel.

here is my /etc/modules.d/alsa:
# Alsa 0.9.X kernel modules' configuration file.
# $Header: /home/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/media-sound/alsa-utils/files/alsa-modu
les.conf-rc,v 1.1 2003/08/05 21:07:55 johnm Exp $

# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore

##
## IMPORTANT:
## You need to customise this section for your specific sound card(s)
## and then run `update-modules' command.
## Read alsa-driver's INSTALL file in /usr/share/doc for more info.
##
## ALSA portion
alias snd-card-0 snd_intel8x0
##alias snd-card-0 ac97_codec
## alias snd-card-1 snd-ens1371
## OSS/Free portion
## alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-slot-0 ac97_codec
## alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1
##

# OSS/Free portion - card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
## OSS/Free portion - card #2
## alias sound-service-1-0 snd-mixer-oss
## alias sound-service-1-3 snd-pcm-oss
## alias sound-service-1-12 snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss
alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss

# Set this to the correct number of cards.
options snd cards_limit=1
~
Is that correct? and my alsamixer is not muted. the levels are maxxed. i dont' know what i could be doing wrong or what could be the problem.

Well I suggest you disable Advanced Linux Sound Architecture for a moment and try if everything works using Open Sound System. It worked for me ... until a latet test-version I will be happy with that. Before 2.6.x-final I will however keep checking if ALSA support works fine by now ...

I'm having a soundcard which uses the ac97 codec also ...

what should i do with /etc/modules.d/alsa? should i just delete it? and anything else to do with alsa?

well, now i get a pop up stating that i should check my sound card to see if anything else may be blocking it , if i have it configured properly, or the correct plugin is selected.

now i'm really stumped