thanks I'll try these but here's an update:
If I login as root and then bring up Kmix and increase the volumne on the various channels the sound works fine, if I then logout of root and login as me then the sound is still fine.
However, I login straight as me after boot I get the above error and get no sound, even if I then login as root, I have to restart and go back via root again!!!
Is this some sort of permissions issue to do with initialising the sound????
Here's lspci's stuff:
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc.: Unknown device 4161
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 10
I/O ports at dc00
Capabilities: <available only to root>