I got Redhat installed on my computer right now, no complains so far except I can't figure out how to get it to recognize my sound card and play music files. I've tried searching for file names such as pciconfig etc etc with minimal success. Some help please?

You might wanta give out more info, like what kinda SoundCard you have, the version of red hat you're using. There're several issues I can think of right now that might be wrong. But just tell us what soundcard you have and version of RH. It'll be a lot easier that way.

I'm using Linux Redhat 7.2, and KDE as my desktop (sometimes Gnome, but I mostly stick to KDE because the Aliens theme I have installed is the shiznit) My sound card is a SoundBlaster AWE64 (Creative Tech) made in 1997, kind of old, but it's still cool. It has ports for Line in, Line out, Microphone in, Speaker out and Joystick. I've tried pluggin my speakers in all if these but no sound comes out, and yes, the volume is turned up as high as as it can go. Still no luck.
When I ran the lspci program (the file that normally tells you about your hardware) It said a bunch of crap about an unknown device. I've gone to redhat.com/support, but so far none of their advice has worked yet. Any help from anyone would be ... well, helpful and appreciated.

Well after some long searches. I couldn't come up with anything ;o\ Usually when it finds it as an unknown device it's not compatible. But that's not always the case. Unless you can code up some drivers so your card can work with RedHat..ehehe. Oh well, good luck. And don't give up yet.

I ran sndconfig and now I DO get some sounds, just the system sounds though. My computer now plays midi's, wav's, and a couple other sound files but not mp3's. I downloaded a couple mp3's and tried listening to them using an old version of xmms but it didn't play. I turned all my system volume settings up as high as they would possibly go but still, xmms wouldn't produce any noise at all. Then a buddy signed onto gaim and damn near blew my speakers out, so I turned the volume back down. I tried playing my Busta Rhymes CD but CD PLAYER wouldn't make sound either. So just system sounds for now, which is an improvement from an hour ago so I'm doing all-right so far ...

Hehe...well that's cool, you kinda got it working. Why don't you try investing in a much more compatible sound card?? They don't cost very much, if you know where to look *cough*pricewatch.com*cough*. They're rather inexpensive.

lmao!! I hate when that happens

mtlhd I don't think you understand, I'm on a mission. I WILL get this [censored] working and when I do I think I'm going to invest in another linux distro. I was going to go for Slackware, but the only CD burner I have is installed on a different computer and I need it to burn the iso image. (I'd download it on the other computer but there's no space left on it)
In the mean time, I'ma figure this sound crap out even if it means staying awake for the next 48 hours. Wish me luck.

Oh I understand alright, I've been through hell and back with linux...lol I just figured you might wanta take the easy way out by just buying a compatible sound card. Heck, I know I would. But that's just the difference between me and you
Anyways, good luck.

hey whats with that?? mp3's cds etc play just fine on my linux but when i use gaim or the linux version of aim, the IM sounds like starting a car with a trapped cat inside...oh god its awful....does this happen to anyone else or is this just a problem with me or my soundcard?

Haha! yeah they do sound ugly, I usually use Aumix to control the speakers sound, so it doesn't sound too brash. Or what you can do is, copy the sound files from AIM on windows and transfer them to linux and then have gaim point to where the sound files are located. Just a thought.

hmm but i get the same kind of awful screeching sound when i use the linux version of AIM. i wold think they have the same sounds in there as they do in the windows version. the sound im talking about isnt just any old "bad" sound, im talking "i think my speakers are broken" awful, like a cross between a disturbed cat and radio static, but twice the pitch and thrice the loudness...lol

Hehehe, I know what you mean, I got the same sound. I just disabled the sound on gaim altogether. Ummm..you might wanta try this AIM client. Someone mentioned it to me a long time ago, don't remember who. But yeah here it is:

Kinkatta

oh yay i fixed that sound issue. both aim and gaim was using esdplay for the sound command, so i tried artsplay and that worked. just "play" works also hehe

Does anyone know why xmms is such a pain in the [censored] to get working? I try to play mp3's on it but nothing happens.

...driver problems?? you might wanna describe ure problem a lil better. mtlhd's already mentioned:

also are mp3s the only things that wont play? do wavs, au's, or the system sounds, etc play?

Yes, all my system sounds work just fine. wav's midi's au's. But for some reason when I load an mp3 into xmms and try to play it, nothing happens. Ussually it would start playing, and the time elapsed so far would be displayed, but I don't get that. Nothing at all happens. I'm in the proccess of finding a new mp3 player right now, I'm thinking something might just be wrong with xmms.

Alright here's an updation:
I came to the conclusion that I don't really care for xmms that much, so I got rid of it, and in replacement of it I downloaded and installed Zinf. I'm not sure how much better Zinf is from xmms, but from experience with both [xmms not working] Zinf is much better. I can play mp3's now without any problems and I even have a nice, neat, little mp3 manager that comes included with Zinf. Also, because I'm hurting on the mp3's I downloaded and installed Napshare, a file sharing program for Linux. It's not the best, but it's good for now. SO I'm playing music now without any problems, if anyone cares to know. I just thought I'd share with y'all so you know I don't need any more assistance. Thanks.