alsa: no device

[Thaden <thaden@freenet.de>]

I'm running debian sarge, and after reading a good many google hints,
faqs, etc (also the bit on linuxorbit.com) i still can't get alsa to
play any sound.
alsa starts up well at boottime, but any application using alsa quits
with error messages like "could not find a suitable output module on
your computer" (alsaplayer).
/dev/snd only has "seq" and "timer" /proc/asound/cards consisists of the
single line "--- no soundcards ---".
i use a standard 2.4.18-k7 kernel with precompiled alsa-modules (0.9).
oss works fine, but it seems i need alsa for recording and editing sound
files.

what can i do?

thanks for any hints,

thaden.