fresh install no sound

[squareyes]

Hi all,
have muted all unnecessary in Alsa mixer,
can play music CD's no problems, have event beeps,
but no sound from either totem-xine, or xine-ui.
Could this be a video player problem? Had no problems
like this with Warty, but has gotten progressively worse with Hoary.
Lost sound on mpegs first then would magically return, then gone for good,
next wmv's lost sound Have 2 devices,
VIA 82C686A/B rev50 (alsamixer), and
 Realtek ALC200/200p rev 0 (OSS mixer) Neither will work for videos.
Think I will go back to Warty, as  CD Creator in Nautilus
won't work either, put in  a blank CD, drag files into it, then when I 
try to write them,
keeps telling me to put a blank CD in the drive. K3b works fine.

My question is , is there anyway I can save applications I have 
installed (k3b etc)
as I have a very slow connection, if I re-install Warty. I know I can 
keep my Home directory
intact, but the rest will take me quite some time to re-install? Sound 
is onboard,
would I have more luck with a better sound card?

Thanks in advance, take care
Winton