The need to configure a default sound card arose from the installation of an external USB sound card (Creative Sound Blaster Extigy) in a system that has an on-board sound card. Based on instructions in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SoundTroubleshooting the shell command cat /proc/asound/modules returned 0 snd_intel8x0 1 snd_usb_audio showing that the on-board sound card was set as default automatically. Following a suggestion in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DebuggingSoundProblems I disabled the on-board sound card using the BIOS setup trying to make the external sound card default. However, this failed as cat /proc/asound/modules now returns 1 snd_usb_audio To make the external sound card default, the first of the above listed documents suggests the following: <ul><li><div>Now type <tt>sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base</tt> </div> </li><li><div>At the very end of the file, add the following (assuming you have 3 cards with module names A, B and C and you want to have them in the order CAB</div></li></ul>options snd-C index=0 options snd-A index=1 options snd-B index=2 I take this to mean that I should run the command sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base options snd-usb-audio index=0 Is this correct? If it is, the output reads # autoloader aliases install sound-slot-0 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-0 install sound-slot-1 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-1 install sound-slot-2 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-2 install sound-slot-3 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-3 install sound-slot-4 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-4 install sound-slot-5 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-5 install sound-slot-6 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-6 install sound-slot-7 /sbin/modprobe snd-card-7 # Cause optional modules to be loaded above generic modules install snd /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb snd-ioctl32 ; : ; } install snd-pcm /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-pcm $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb snd-pcm-oss ; : ; } install snd-mixer /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-mixer $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe --Qb snd-mixer-oss ; : ; } install snd-seq /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-seq $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb snd-seq-midi ; /sbin/modprobe --quiet snd-seq-oss ; : ; } # Cause optional modules to be loaded above sound card driver modules install snd-emu10k1 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-emu10k1 $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb snd-emu10k1-synth ; } install snd-via82xx /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd-via82xx $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb snd-seq ; } # Load saa7134-alsa instead of saa7134 (which gets dragged in by it anyway) install saa7134 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install saa7134 $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb saa7134-alsa ; : ; } # Load snd-seq for devices that don't have hardware midi; # Ubuntu #26283, #43682, #56005; works around Ubuntu #34831 for # non-Creative Labs PCI hardware install snd /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install snd $CMDLINE_OPTS && { /sbin/modprobe -Qb snd-seq ; } # Prevent abnormal drivers from grabbing index 0 options snd-bt87x index=-2 options cx88-alsa index=-2 options saa7134-alsa index=-2 options snd-atiixp-modem index=-2 options snd-intel8x0m index=-2 options snd-via82xx-modem index=-2 options snd-usb-audio index=-2 options snd-usb-usx2y index=-2 # Ubuntu #62691, enable MPU for snd-cmipci options snd-cmipci mpu_port=0x330 fm_port=0x388 [ Read 38 lines ] ^G Get Help ^O WriteOut ^R Read File ^Y Prev Page ^K Cut Text ^C Cur Pos ^X Exit ^J Justify ^W Where Is ^V Next Page ^U UnCut Text ^T To Spell This output leaves me utterly befuddled! What am I supposed to make out of it? Is it a sequence of shell commands I am supposed to run one after another, excluding those preceded by #? If not, how can I interpret this output and, most important, what am I supposed to do next? <hr size=1> <a href="http://answers.yahoo.com.sg"><img src="http://sg.yimg.com/i/sg/answers/yanswers_footer.gif" height=65 border=0 width=346></a> Real people. Real questions. Real answers. <a href="http://answers.yahoo.com.sg">Share what you know</a>.