I've done some checking and I see that many have problems with audio, but my situation seems different; it's as if no audio devices are recognized at all. I have no Volume Control icon in the panel, nor can I add one. When I choose Applications | Sound & Video | Volume Control, I get an error: "No volume control elements and/or devices found." If I open up the Volume Meter instead, it's just a blank window. Here's some of my system info: 1. Tried running alsamixer: solemneyed@elysium:~$ alsamixer alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such file or directory 2. output of lsmod: solemneyed@elysium:~$ lsmod Module Size Used by nls_cp437 5888 0 isofs 33720 0 udf 77060 0 proc_intf 4100 0 freq_table 4100 0 cpufreq_userspace 4572 0 cpufreq_ondemand 6172 0 cpufreq_powersave 1920 0 video 16260 0 sony_acpi 6280 0 pcc_acpi 11264 0 button 6800 0 battery 10244 0 container 4608 0 ac 4996 0 ipv6 229504 63 tsdev 7488 0 usbhid 29376 0 e100 32384 0 usblp 12032 0 mii 4736 1 e100 ohci1394 31876 0 i2c_i801 8076 0 i2c_core 21264 1 i2c_i801 piix 9988 1 ehci_hcd 29444 0 uhci_hcd 30224 0 pciehp 83948 0 shpchp 86116 0 pci_hotplug 30512 2 pciehp,shpchp intel_agp 20636 1 agpgart 31784 1 intel_agp pcspkr 3816 0 rtc 12216 0 md 43856 0 dm_mod 53116 1 capability 5000 0 commoncap 7808 1 capability sbp2 22408 0 evdev 9088 0 ieee1394 100408 2 ohci1394,sbp2 psmouse 19336 0 mousedev 11160 1 parport_pc 34372 1 lp 10792 0 parport 33480 2 parport_pc,lp ide_generic 1664 0 ide_disk 18176 0 ide_cd 38532 0 ext3 120968 1 jbd 54168 1 ext3 sr_mod 16036 0 cdrom 36508 2 ide_cd,sr_mod sd_mod 16784 3 usb_storage 64064 0 usbcore 107384 6 usbhid,usblp,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd <div id="mb_0">,usb_storage ide_core 118988 5 piix,ide_generic,ide_disk,ide_cd,usb_storage ata_piix 8836 6 libata 44548 1 ata_piix scsi_mod 119936 5 sbp2,sr_mod,sd_mod,usb_storage,libata unix 26164 918 thermal 13576 0 processor 22708 1 thermal fan 4612 0 fbcon 34048 0 font 8448 1 fbcon bitblit 5120 1 fbcon vesafb 6948 0 cfbcopyarea 3968 1 vesafb cfbimgblt 3072 1 vesafb cfbfillrect 3584 1 vesafb solemneyed@elysium:~$ 3. output of lspci: root@elysium:/home/solemneyed # lspci -v 0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 915G/P/GV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 04) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819b Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Capabilities: [e0] #09 [2109] 0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 915G/P/GV PCI Express Root Port (rev 04) (p rog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0 Memory behind bridge: ffa00000-ffafffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: cbf00000-cbffffff Capabilities: [88] #0d [0000] Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [90] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable - Capabilities: [a0] #10 [0141] 0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp. 82915G Express Chipset Famil y Graphics Controller (rev 04) (prog-if 00 [VGA]) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819c Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11 Memory at ff480000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K] I/O ports at ec00 [size=8] Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M] Memory at ff440000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K] Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2 0000:00:1b.0 0403: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definiti on Audio Controller (rev 03) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 81a0 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11 Memory at ff43c000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [60] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable - Capabilities: [70] #10 [0091] 0000:00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Exp ress Port 1 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=05, sec-latency=0 Memory behind bridge: ff600000-ff6fffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000cbb00000-00000000cbb00000 Capabilities: [40] #10 [0141] Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable - Capabilities: [90] #0d [0000] Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2 0000:00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Exp ress Port 2 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0 Memory behind bridge: ff700000-ff7fffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000cbc00000-00000000cbc00000 Capabilities: [40] #10 [0141] Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable - Capabilities: [90] #0d [0000] Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2 0000:00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Exp ress Port 3 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0 Memory behind bridge: ff800000-ff8fffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000cbd00000-00000000cbd00000 Capabilities: [40] #10 [0141] Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable - Capabilities: [90] #0d [0000] Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2 0000:00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) PCI Exp ress Port 4 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0 Memory behind bridge: ff900000-ff9fffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000cbe00000-00000000cbe00000 Capabilities: [40] #10 [0141] Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable - Capabilities: [90] #0d [0000] Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 2 0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819d Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23 I/O ports at c800 [size=32] 0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819d Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19 I/O ports at cc00 [size=32] 0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819d Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18 I/O ports at d000 [size=32] 0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819d Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 I/O ports at d400 [size=32] 0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB 2 EHCI Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 20 [EHCI]) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819d Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23 Memory at ff43bc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [58] #0a [20a0] 0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801 PCI Bridge (rev d3) (prog-if 01 [Subt ractive decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=06, subordinate=06, sec-latency=32 I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff Memory behind bridge: ff500000-ff5fffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000cc000000-00000000cff00000 Capabilities: [50] #0d [0000] 0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FR (ICH6/ICH6R) LPC Interface Bridg e (rev 03) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819d Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0 0000:00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP]) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819d Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18 I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16] 0000:00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FW (ICH6/ICH6W) SATA Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 8f [Master SecP SecO PriP PriO]) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819e Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19 I/O ports at e800 [size=8] I/O ports at e400 [size=4] I/O ports at e000 [size=8] I/O ports at dc00 [size=4] I/O ports at d800 [size=16] Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2 0000:00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Contro ller (rev 03) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 819d Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 10 I/O ports at c400 [size=32] 0000:06:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16 (CX23 416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 813d Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 3 Memory at cc000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M] Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2 0000:06:01.0 Communication controller: Lucent Microelectronics V.92 56K WinModem (rev 03) Subsystem: Lucent Microelectronics: Unknown device 044c Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 4 Memory at ff502000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] I/O ports at bc00 [size=8] I/O ports at b800 [size=256] Capabilities: [f8] Power Management version 2 0000:06:05.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Lucent Microelectronics FW323 (rev 61) (prog- if 10 [OHCI]) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 81d8 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 17 Memory at ff500000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K] Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2 0000:06:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp.: Unknown device 1064 (rev 03) Subsystem: Sony Corporation: Unknown device 81a1 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 20 Memory at ff501000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K] I/O ports at b400 [size=64] Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2 I don't really know what if anything from this will be helpful, but I look forward to anyone's suggestions. I've tried replacing esound with polypaudio, but with no effect (I installed uninstalled the packages, but no more, so I don't know if there was some config file I should have changed also...</div>