yes, i'm new at linux.

i am running ubuntu ultimate edition 2.0.
i have an audigy soundblaster se card.
it works somewhat...

only the front two channels play. and they have a bit if static. it's not the cable.
my problem is that i would love to hear my subwoofer again.

i'm using the analogue connections with the front two channels going to the main speakers, and sub going to sub (center and rear are unused).
i've tinkered with the alsamixer command from the terminal to correct another issue, but when i "alsactl store", i'm denied permission (any help here would be nice also).
in alsamixer, it only displays two channels. in volume control (for device CA0106 alsamixer) it displays all channels. i've tried adjusting each channel and muting and unmuting each channel. still only the front two play.

so i manually opened the file "/var/lib/alsa/asound.state" to try to save it there, and found settings for all channels. but those channels do not appear in "alsamixer" or sound properties.

it knows i have 6 channels, how do i tell it to use them?

can i edit the text file?
or do i need to use a command line?

below is the .state file for the card:

for the "alsactl store" problem, did you try as root or with sudo (almost forgot you were using a variation of Ubuntu)? If it works that way, try adding your user to the "audio" group and see if you're good after that. I used to have this problem with Debian on another computer I had (was an SB card too - SB Live! Gamer)

"login as root"

i think i'll remember that from now on.
thanks, fixed that.

now if i could just get all the channels to work...

It could be a soundcard driver problem. Upgrading the driver may help. Find the right name for the soundcard in the Terminal: (cat /proc/asound/cards). Once the soundcard make and model are verified then find the drivers in adept or synaptic package manager and install. Just for good measure (it may take a reboot) , run the previous command again. You should have all channels working now. If not set the souncard default status (asoundconf set-default-card "name of soundcard" ) include the quotes, but not the brackets.
Hope this helps

card verifies.

ran synaptic, and no packages were available.
i' now know what to look for (i think).

EDIT:

i found a driver, but i think it's older than what i'm using.
the one i found is dated april 16, 2008.
i'm running ubuntu 8.10 (ultimate edition 2 gamer 32-bit) and it's supposed to have all "updates" as of oct. 2008.

if i install the driver i found and it doesn't work, can i put the original back? easily?

thanks guys.

here's a stoopid question:
can i install the original windows driver from cd? even with wine? or is that impossible?
(i said it was stoopid)

Please post the output of:

cat /proc/asound/cards

and

lspci