Need help with sound on Lenny desk-top host

[Paul E Condon <pecondon@mesanetworks.net>]

I have a computer on which I did a clean new install of Lenny about a month
ago. Lots of problems and I am just now confronting fact that there is no
sound. (I got Flash working earlier today, and with that knew, for sure: no
sount) 

There is some advice on possible problems in Lenny in the Release Notes at

http://www.debian.org/releases/lenny/i386/release-notes/ch-information.en.html#partitionenc

which include:
"In rare cases, sound might stop working after the upgrade. 
 If this happens, go through the ALSA checklist:
    *  run alsaconf as root user,
    *  add your user to the audio group,
    *  make sure the sound channel levels are up and unmuted (using alsamixer),
    *  make sure arts and esound are not running,
    *  make sure no OSS modules are loaded,
    *  make sure the speakers are actually switched on, and
    *  check whether the command
          cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp
        works for root. 
"
I had not been aware of this ALSA checklist before today, and I must admit
I do not understand some of the items in the list.
    
    *  run alsaconf as root user,
Did this. It behaved like a typical Debian configure script. Seemed to complete normally.

    *  add your user to the audio group,
I was already a member of that group. It must have been done aa part of tasksel.

    *  make sure the sound channel levels are up and unmuted (using alsamixer),
I not sure. alsamixer display did not look familiar and it was not at all clear what the
iconic display was indicating. Further I wasn't able to change the appearance of the 
display by clicking of any of the icons/features... How should one start alsomixer? 
Command line? click on an Icon that I have not found? How?

    *  make sure arts and esound are not running,
How? Do they appear in the ps -ef display if they are running? They were neither in
that display. But is that how to 'make sure'?

    *  make sure no OSS modules are loaded,
The string 'OSS' does not appear in the output of lsmod. Is that sufficient? Or do
these OSS modules have individual names that should be searched for?

    *  make sure the speakers are actually switched on, and
By pulling the sound cable jack part way out of the cound card I can get 60Hz hum from
the speakers. Putting the jack back in proper position makes it go away. I think the 
speakers are on. Is there a better test? 

    *  check whether the command
          cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp
        works for root. 
What should this command do? Make a noise? Blink a light? What? In fact it does nothing
for about 5seconds and then terminates with the error message:
   "cat: write error: No space left on device"
Is this behavior what is meant by 'working'? Likely, not, IMHO, but what should be
done about it?

Suggestions?
Other tests?


TIA



-- 
Paul E Condon           
pecondon@mesanetworks.net