error opening /dev/mixer

["Thomas H. George" <xyz@spininternet.com>]

Somewhere I have crossed something up and I can't figure out where.  I 
mostly use a 2.4.22 kernel which I compiled with support for my sblive 
pci card but I have started using a 2.6.5 kernel which I compiled with 
ALSA sound support.  Sound works fine with the 2.6.5 kernel but no 
longer with the 2.4.22 kernel which now reports "error opening  
/dev/mixer."  At bootup there was a suggestion to try alsactl restore 
and this resulted in "no sound cards found".  The card is there of 
course and lspci -v provides details.  Have I done something in 
installing the 2.6.5 kernel  that is incompatable with the 2.4.22 
configuration or is there a way to use either?

Tom