ALSA problem?

[clickit]

After several months now I need to use sound. Tried Amarok no sound. Tried my sndfx file to play wave files no sound (yes the speakers are turned on).
Ran thru my notes on ALSA and now they dont apply cuz I only have MIC and GAIN CONTROL when in ALL view. I turned ON gain control but still no sound.
This ALSA 1.0.18. Where is the volume control??? Tried W and X and 9 but got no response.
There does not seem to be any relevant files in /etc/modprobe.d.
Need some help please.

[Rubberman]

Have you tried running the alsamixer program? It is a command-line/console tool that uses curses for full-screen access. It should give you access to all the controls available. I have had to use it in the past for similar problems, including channel balance issues where the volume on one channel was turned off altogether and I only had 1/2 of the stereo output.

[clickit]

Yea, thanks Rubberman. Did that. That is how I turned on the gain control (for all the good that did).
I am used to getting many more than just 2 items to control. That makes me think maybe there is a file I need to update. Looked in /etc/modprobe.d where I remember having to add stuff in the past but now the modprobe.conf file says "dont use this". There is a sound file which has:
alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
alias sound-slot-0 snd-via82xx
Is this a file I need to fix??
Minutes later...
aaghhh!!
Just did a man -k ALSA. This showed 3 commands (only one I am even familiar with): aconnect, alsaconf, and alsactl. Are these commands I need to run before using alsamixer ??
If so in what order? The later 2 have output which goes somewhere does someone know where?
Do I need to re-read slackware essentials (revised)??

[Rubberman]

Yea, thanks Rubberman. Did that. That is how I turned on the gain control (for all the good that did).
I am used to getting many more than just 2 items to control. That makes me think maybe there is a file I need to update. Looked in /etc/modprobe.d where I remember having to add stuff in the past but now the modprobe.conf file says "dont use this". There is a sound file which has:
alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
alias sound-slot-0 snd-via82xx
Is this a file I need to fix??
Minutes later...
aaghhh!!
Just did a man -k ALSA. This showed 3 commands (only one I am even familiar with): aconnect, alsaconf, and alsactl. Are these commands I need to run before using alsamixer ??
If so in what order? The later 2 have output which goes somewhere does someone know where?
Do I need to re-read slackware essentials (revised)??

Sorry, I don't know. I'm not a Linux sound expert. Mostly I just poke and prod until things work... Both my CentOS workstation and main Ubuntu 9.04 laptop do sound just fine, but it took some futzing before they were doing what I wanted.

[oz]

I usually make sure that alsa-utils is installed, then run the following commands in this order:

alsaconf (to detect and configure the sound card)

alsamixer (to adjust/unmute sound settings as desired)

alsactl store (to store the current settings)

Doing the above always works for me.

[clickit]

Ozar, thought UR suggestion was on the mark but after following UR command sequence I have forged no further, it seems.
alsa-config installed
alsa-oss installed
sox installed

Tried: play /usr/share/orage/sounds/Phone.wav and get no sound speakers are on but gives an error:
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave
play FAIL formats: can't open output file `default': snd_pcm_open error: No such file or directory

alsamixer gives me just "gain control" when in playback view and MIC in capture view as before.
/etc/modprobe.d/sound contains:
alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
alias sound-slot-0 snd-via82xx

Any more thought:s??

[clickit]

Still no sound! Tried Ozar's approach and finally was able to get alsamixer to display all of the sound parameters. But oops, when I tried to run a sound file today it is back to just displaying gain control.
I could not find any google items with similar condtions for getting:
ALSA lib pcm_dmix.c:1008snd_pcm_dmix_open) unable to open slave

snd_pcm_dmix_open does not exist on my system.
I redid the alsaconf and alsactl store and still no luck getting sound to play.
Checked /proc/asound/V8235 and found via82xx was empty.
When I ran alsaconf I presumed v8235 was my sound device but I also have a bt848 card and it also appears in the list that alsaconf displays to select from. Is the reason via82xx is empty possibly because it is not the appropriate device??