Hi, I am just finishing up configuring my wife's laptop. It is a dell inspiron 1525 running debian testing/SID with kde4.2 . It has a built in intel sound card. When I start or exit kde I can clearly hear the notifications, but any audio program or flash video does not make sound. I have feverishly checked mixer settings. Still no audio besides KDE enter/exit sounds. I am hoping someone else had this problem and its a simple fix... its been a lot of hours getting this laptop to work right (wifi blah).

Also how do I get touchpad scroll options in kde... my xorg.conf is blank?

Thanks

Make sure you have alsa-base,alsa-utils installed.
Then run alsaconf as root from a shell.

That's because Debian 'auto-configures' display and graphics settings now.So it's quite normal for the file to be empty after an install.
You can still add to the file as you need to.

ok. got the scroll to work, had to install an extra package.

I tried alsaconf, but it doesn't work, check this out...

inga@laptop1:~$ su root
Password:
laptop1:/home/inga# apt-get update && apt-get install alsa-base alsa-utils
Get:1 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing Release.gpg [197B]
Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/contrib Translation-en_US
Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/non-free Translation-en_US
Get:2 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid Release.gpg [197B]
Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main Translation-en_US
Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/contrib Translation-en_US
Ign http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/non-free Translation-en_US
Get:3 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing Release [78.3kB]
Get:4 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid Release [94.4kB]
Get:5 http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing Release.gpg [197B]
Ign http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing/main Translation-en_US
Get:6 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main Packages/DiffIndex [2038B]
Get:7 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/contrib Packages/DiffIndex [2023B]
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/non-free Packages/DiffIndex
Get:8 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main Sources/DiffIndex [2038B]
Get:9 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/contrib Sources/DiffIndex [2023B]
Hit http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/non-free Sources/DiffIndex
Hit http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing Release
Err http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing Release

Get:10 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main Packages/DiffIndex [2038B]
Get:11 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/contrib Packages/DiffIndex [2023B]
Get:12 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/non-free Packages/DiffIndex [2023B]
Get:13 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [17.4kB]
Get:14 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/contrib 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [332B]
Get:15 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [13.4kB]
Get:16 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/contrib 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [426B]
Get:17 http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing Release [13.2kB]
Get:18 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [17.4kB]
Ign http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing Release
Get:19 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [17.4kB]
Get:20 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/contrib 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [332B]
Get:21 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [13.4kB]
Get:22 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/contrib 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [426B]
Get:23 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-15-2057.16.pdiff [12.3kB]
Get:24 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-15-2057.16.pdiff [12.3kB]
Get:25 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/contrib 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [38B]
Get:26 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/contrib 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [38B]
Get:27 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/non-free 2009-05-16-0859.14.pdiff [396B]
Get:28 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/non-free 2009-05-16-0859.14.pdiff [396B]
Ign http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing/main Packages/DiffIndex
Ign http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing/main Sources/DiffIndex
Hit http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing/main Packages
Hit http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing/main Sources
Get:29 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/contrib 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [332B]
Get:30 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [13.4kB]
Get:31 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [11.1kB]
Get:32 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [11.1kB]
Get:33 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/contrib 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [426B]
Get:34 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-15-2057.16.pdiff [12.3kB]
Get:35 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [9346B]
Get:36 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [9346B]
Get:37 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/contrib 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [38B]
Get:38 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/non-free 2009-05-16-0859.14.pdiff [396B]
Get:39 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [11.1kB]
Get:40 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [8843B]
Get:41 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [8843B]
Get:42 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/non-free 2009-05-16-2106.58.pdiff [713B]
Get:43 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/non-free 2009-05-16-2106.58.pdiff [713B]
Get:44 http://ftp.us.debian.org testing/main 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [9346B]
Get:45 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-0252.03.pdiff [8843B]
Get:46 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/non-free 2009-05-16-2106.58.pdiff [713B]
Get:47 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-0859.14.pdiff [1094B]
Get:48 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-0859.14.pdiff [1094B]
Get:49 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-0859.14.pdiff [1094B]
Get:50 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [9278B]
Get:51 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [9278B]
Get:52 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-1458.01.pdiff [9278B]
Get:53 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-2106.58.pdiff [19.6kB]
Get:54 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-2106.58.pdiff [19.6kB]
Get:55 http://ftp.us.debian.org sid/main 2009-05-16-2106.58.pdiff [19.6kB]
Fetched 305kB in 22s (13.3kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
W: GPG error: http://debian-multimedia.informatik.uni-erlangen.de testing Release: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY 07DC563D1F41B907
W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
alsa-base is already the newest version.
alsa-utils is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 258 not upgraded.
laptop1:/home/inga# alsaconf
bash: alsaconf: command not found
laptop1:/home/inga# alsa
alsa alsactl alsamixer
laptop1:/home/inga# alsa
Usage: /usr/sbin/alsa {unload|reload|force-unload|force-reload|suspend|resume}
laptop1:/home/inga# alsactl
alsactl: Specify command...
laptop1:/home/inga#


alsamixer shows everything should be working... I do hear kde load, and kde's noise when I leave. nothing else seems to work. in fact, if I select test in kde control center, it makes no sound... but then it will make sound when I exit... please help, this install has been the most nightmarish since kernel 2.2

I did a bit of Googling and it would appear that Debian have removed alsconf from the alsa-utils package:

http://wiki.debian.org/alsaconf

This applies to Testing and Sid.
Looking at the output from alsa could you try something like:

/usr/sbin/alsa unload
/usr/sbin/alsa reload

Or if that doesn't work:

/usr/sbin/alsa force-unload
/usr/sbin/alsa force-reload

Failing that you will need to post details of your sound hardware and what modules are loaded relating to sound.