Alsa - no sound: I need to repeatedly run alsaconf every time I reboot computer

[Mitchell Laks <mlaks@post.harvard.edu>]

Hi Gurus,

I seem to have to rerun alsaconf to reconfigure alsa every time I reboot my computer.
I have no idea why? I am running sid with debian standard kernel:  

when I run 
speaker-test I hear nothing. :(

Here is my situation:

uname -a

Linux Rashi 2.6.23-1-amd64 #1 SMP Fri Dec 21 12:00:17 UTC 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Here are the output of 

mlaks@Rashi:~$ lspci -nn |egrep -i 's(ou)?nd|audio|media'
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller [1106:3059] (rev 60)
mlaks@Rashi:~$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_via82xx            34344  3
gameport               21264  1 snd_via82xx
snd_mpu401_uart        13440  1 snd_via82xx
snd_seq_dummy           8452  0
snd_seq_oss            36736  0
snd_seq_midi           13376  0
snd_rawmidi            30624  2 snd_mpu401_uart,snd_seq_midi
snd_via82xx_modem      20492  0
snd_ac97_codec        117464  2 snd_via82xx,snd_via82xx_modem
snd_seq_midi_event     12416  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
ac97_bus                7168  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss            48288  0
snd_mixer_oss          21376  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq                58752  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device         12948  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd_pcm                89864  5 snd_via82xx,snd_via82xx_modem,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              28552  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc         15248  3 snd_via82xx,snd_via82xx_modem,snd_pcm
snd                    65640  17 snd_via82xx,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_via82xx_modem,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore              13216  1 snd
mlaks@Rashi:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
 0 [V8237          ]: VIA8237 - VIA 8237
                      VIA 8237 with ALC850 at 0xe800, irq 22
mlaks@Rashi:~$ cat /dev/sndstat
Sound Driver:3.8.1a-980706 (ALSA v1.0.14 emulation code)
Kernel: Linux Rashi 2.6.23-1-amd64 #1 SMP Fri Dec 21 12:00:17 UTC 2007 x86_64
Config options: 0

Installed drivers:
Type 10: ALSA emulation

Card config:
VIA 8237 with ALC850 at 0xe800, irq 22

Audio devices:
0: VIA 8237 (DUPLEX)

Synth devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Midi devices: NOT ENABLED IN CONFIG

Timers:
7: system timer

Mixers:
0: Realtek ALC850 rev 0
mlaks@Rashi:~$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
options snd-via82xx index=0
mlaks@Rashi:~$
mlaks@Rashi:~$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/sound
alias snd-card-0 snd-via82xx
options snd-via82xx index=0
mlaks@Rashi:~$ dmesg|grep snd
mlaks@Rashi:~$ dmesg|less


*****************

Then I run alsaconf, which recreates the modules and then it run.

When I set up alsaconf
I also run 
alsactl store

but that does not seem to help on the next reboot..
Sometimes, I think I lose the sound even without the reboot, but I will check that again...
It may simply be the reboot, but may actually even lose sound without the reboot...

Any ideas what to do?

Thanks!

Mitchell