I responded to you in your previous report because I have the same problem. Now I changed my kernel from 2.4.27-1-k7 to 2.6.8-1-k7 (debian sid), this apparently solved the problem. I also uninstalled kdm, now I run startx to enter kde. Using startx with my previous kernel also crashed my system. Now I tried to play sounds (as you mentioned) NO sounds. We are not alone with this problem: http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=88401 Regards, Francisco