[emh]

Did you run configure, make, and make install after downloading it?

[bvc]

Drivers have to be installed. You can't just drop them in a file. If it's a tar then after you unpack the tar, in a terminal
cd /path/to/folder
then read the INSTALL file for how to install. Sometimes ./configure isn't necessary, among other usuall commands, so you should always read the INSTALL, and README files. Or use a file mgr to read the files.

[bvc]

Can you post a link and name of the file/driver you downloaded? Did you download a alsa-drivers-tar.gz or bz2? That's all I've ever done. If you downloaded actual drivers, I have no idea if or how to install them. Earlier you mentioned /etc/modules....this is where you tell the kernel to load a mod at startup

Quote

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file should contain the names of kernel modules that are
# to be loaded at boot time, one per line.  Comments begin with
# a `#', and everything on the line after them are ignored.

scsi_hostadapter

###I2OSUPPORT
i2o_core
i2o_config
#i2o_pci
i2o_block
i2o_proc

###I2C
i2c-algo-bit
i2c-algo-pcf
i2c-dev
#i2c-i801
i2c-i810
i2c-proc

i810_rng

#JOYSTICK
gameport
adi
joydev

I'm a bit confused though, because 9.0 has alsa and it's as new as it gets, so why new drivers? Are they newer?

[bvc]

From a default 2.4.19-16mdk 9.0 kernel;

Quote

[root@localhost bvc9]# ls /lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdk/kernel/sound/pci
ac97/      snd-als4000.o.gz  snd-fm801.o.gz       snd-via686.o.gz
ali5451/   snd-cmipci.o.gz   snd-ice1712.o.gz     snd-via8233.o.gz
cs46xx/    snd-cs4281.o.gz   snd-intel8x0.o.gz    trident/
emu10k1/   snd-ens1370.o.gz  snd-maestro3.o.gz    ymfpci/
korg1212/  snd-ens1371.o.gz  snd-rme32.o.gz
nm256/     snd-es1938.o.gz   snd-rme96.o.gz
rme9652/   snd-es1968.o.gz   snd-sonicvibes.o.gz

You didn't need to download anything!

Quote

Does it matter if all the sound modules are loaded on boot up or do the mix badly with each other and prevent it from working anyways?

Depends, on whether the kernel thought it could use any of them and which ones, but no, it should not have caused a problem, but possible. None were probably not loaded because you're going to need and entry in /etc/modules.conf. Have you tried to run from a terminal (as root)
sndconfig

If it's not installed (as root)
urpmi sndconfig

sndconfig (if compatible with your card) with do everything for you, but it doesn't work with all cards.

If the snd-card-intel8x0 won't work, there's a dummy driver that's suppose to possibly work for a lot of cards that don't have a specific driver. It's called snd-dummy, and is located at /lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdk/kernel/sound/drivers.

I found these
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ty4s-tkhs/memo...lsa_cf-b5r.html
http://linux.toshiba-dme.co.jp/linux/eng/m.../tecra_9100.htm This one seems to indicate that the i810_audio OSS driver will work also.

The first link, shows an example for the /etc/modules.conf entries.

Quote

# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
options snd snd_major=116 snd_cards_limit=1
alias snd-card-0 snd-card-intel8x0
post-install snd-card-intel8x0 snd_index=0 snd_id=intel8x0 alsactl restore

# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

Quote

# modprobe snd-card-intel8x0
# modprobe snd-pcm-oss

# lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
snd-pcm-oss            18440   0  
snd-pcm-plugin         13032   0  [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-mixer-oss           4244   0  [snd-pcm-oss]
snd-card-intel8x0       2656   0  
snd-intel8x0            8208   0  [snd-card-intel8x0]
snd-pcm                36216   0  [snd-pcm-oss snd-pcm-plugin snd-intel8x0]
snd-timer              10816   0  [snd-pcm]
snd-ac97-codec         27680   0  [snd-intel8x0]
snd-mixer              28144   0  [snd-mixer-oss snd-ac97-codec]
snd                    42080   1  [snd-pcm-oss snd-pcm-plugin snd-mixer-oss snd-card-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0 snd-pcm snd-timer snd-ac97-codec snd-mixer]

Also, remember that with alsa, the default is for the volume level to be all the way down, and I believe this is at every boot, but I'm not sure. I used alsa for a couple of days and I always had to turn the volume up. The alsa driver was horrible for my CS4281, so I use OSS.