i've got a machine running debian and using KDE that's got a problem with the sound. It doesn't work. I've gotten it up by typing 'chmod 666 /dev/snd', so i guess it's got something to do with permissions. the trouble is that i've got to do this after every reboot. how do i fix this?

Instead of chmodding the file, check the user/group permissions:
ls -lh /dev/snd

Just guessing, but the permissions might be root/audio for user/group. In this case, it should just be a matter of adding your user to the audio group:
usermod username -G audio,users...

As noted, if you don't list a group there and the user is currently a member, they will be removed from the current group. So either list the groups you want this user to be a member of, OR...
edit /etc/group and add your username to the end of the audio group, comma seperated (no spaces) list should work.

Always make backups before modifying system files (/etc/group).

Good Luck!

Cool