KDE "system" sounds on my T40

[Bob Alexander <bob@ngi.it>]

As my "normal" user (bob) I can play music etc. but I cannot hear 
"system sounds" like for example after logging in at the KDM screen.

The bob user is in the "audio" group.

When logging in as the superuser I hear  these systems sounds correctly.

Dunno if this i related but even as root I am not able to hear system 
sounds in the early boot stage like Knoppix's sexy "Initiating startup 
sequence" :) Is this related ?

Thank you,
Bob