Troubleshooting Sound in Fedora Core2

After the installation at my home computer, I did not get any Sound from the Fedora Core 2. The system had Knoppix running and had sound fine. Posted the problem to user groups, but could not get any helpful reply.

I am not getting any Audio Output in Fedora Core 2.

- Speaker is _Not_ set to Mute.
- system-config-soundcard detects the card properly ( Model: 82801DB
(ICH4) AC'97 Audio Controller) Module: snd-intel8x0

- Playing the test sound FAILS!

[root@localhost root]# system-config-soundcard
Simple mixer control 'PCM',0
Capabilities: pvolume pswitch
Playback channels: Front Left - Front Right
Limits: Playback 0 - 31
Front Left: Playback 23 [74%] [on]
Front Right: Playback 23 [74%] [on]
-9
[root@localhost root]#


I tried with a Knoppix CD and Sound output was fine with it.

How should I go about troubleshooting this audio problem in FC2?



Later found, the systems' mail at root:

----------------------ModProbe Begin -----------------------------

Errors running install command:

sound_slot_1 : 2 Time(s)
------------------------------------------------------------------


Started the exploration at Net, Google, FedoraForum, Redhat Fedora Archives etc.
Stumbled across Bugzilla Bug 123631: Sounds doesn't work after upgrade FC1 > FC2 with AC97 audio and realised that I am not alone.

But this comment,gave a hint to me try something:

Additional Comment #10 From Christopher Beland on 2004-06-08 02:41

I did some systematic testing to try to define the scope of the
problem and give the developers more information to work with. My
report includes pre-formatted output, so as not to make it unreadable,
I'm including it as an attachment.

Quick summary: I can mostly fix the problem by hitting the Master
Volume in OSS (not PCM), but some programs (like aplay and xmms) still
can't use ALSA. OSS works fine everywhere after the fix, and esound
works but has heavy skipping. At login time, I am getting the
modprobe error reported elsewhere, as well as various gconf and bonobo
errors which may or may not be related. Using xmms with ALSA before
or after the fix hangs "ps" and forces an unclean reboot. Some other
things I tried didn't help.

I opened the Volume Control Application.

Moved to the tab Analog Devices AD1981B [Audio Mixer (OSS)] Tab

Maximized all the controls.

Voila! The Sound came up !

Again, this is just following the steps, I dont understand what this OSS and ALSA things are all about.