I've had several problems with this distribution, but these are the biggest. Can anyone help me with either?

I have an ISA soundcard that is not recognized. When I put the appropriate lines in /etc/modules.conf and modprobe it myself, the sound card completely works.

But the scripts in /etc/init.d/alsa and /etc/init.d/sound don't seem to work (and of course I get no sound when I start up unless I modprobe the soundcard each time). When I took a look at the scripts, they seemed to want a "modprobe -c" output that uses the pre-kernel-2.6 format, so I have a hard time understanding how these particular scripts could ever work. (Though apparently they do for some people, since the world is not full of posts saying 'I can't get my sound card to work in 10.1'). However, just changing modprobe -c to modprobe.old -c is not enough to get the scripts to function. How can I get sound upon startup? (Short of just adding some extra modprobes to /etc/rc.d/rc.local)?

The other problem is the modem. It's a hardware PCI modem (which Mandrake doesn't recognize either--it thinks it's a Winmodem. Umm, no.) The first issue is this: I want a link from /dev/modem to /dev/ttyS4. However, if I manually create a symbolic link in there it keeps disappearing. What file or script should I edit to keep Mandrake from removing the symbolic link?

The second issue is that if I try connecting via PPP, the modem connects and immediately hangs up. I'm not using Gnome/KDE and the only files I've changed to set up the modem are chat-ppp0 and ifcfg-ppp0.

I've managed to hack around the problem by editing /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifup-ppp and removing the code which calls ppp-watch. When it doesn't call ppp-watch and instead starts ppp using chat, it works. But I'm sure that this is not how I'm supposed to do it. Does anyone know the right way?

is ur hardware recognised........lspci
do uave pnp enabled in bios?
have u checked that ur isa card is compatible?
what make of modem is it?

Considering that the sound card works completely if I modprobe it myself, and the modem works completely if I add a symlink and modify ifup-ppp, I think it is likely that the card is compatible and the modem is recognized.

ok...........i`m trying to help and it seems that ur response is a little sarcastic to quote u
" I have an ISA soundcard that is not recognized. When I put the appropriate lines in /etc/modules.conf and modprobe it myself, the sound card completely works."
and also
" The other problem is the modem. It's a hardware PCI modem (which Mandrake doesn't recognize either--it thinks it's a Winmodem. Umm, no.) The first issue is this: I want a link from /dev/modem to /dev/ttyS4. However, if I manually create a symbolic link in there it keeps disappearing. What file or script should I edit to keep Mandrake from removing the symbolic link?"
I asked what make of modem is it and maybe u could share which type of sound card u have?
If u want to work out the problems u r having by someone giving u scripts then leave it with u!
If u want to trouble shoot the problems u r having with ur hardware then bear in mind that help on the forum is given in peoples spare time!!!!!