[techtalk] sound question (kind of long)

[mithrandr]

I didn't realize till after I wrote this how long winded I got towards the
end. Sorry if I'm wasting a lot of bandwidth.

I was hoping I could have solved this on my own, but I figured it
wouldn't hurt to ask for help. I've had a soundcard installed in my
machine since I built it, but only within the past few weeks have I gotten
over my laziness (and fear) of trying to get it to work. So I'll start out
with the stats of the machine:

Motherboard: ABIT BP6
Soundcard: Soundblaster PCI128
OS: RedHat 6.1, kernel 2.2.16

Now, I have all of the PCI slots available to me (I have a ISA network
card and an AGP video card). I know the SBPCI128 is the same as the
Ensoniq AudioPCI 1370/1371 (this one is new enough that I'm pretty sure
it's a 1371). I tried using OSS (which supports the card) and it tells me
I have it on an IRQ with another device. I check during boot-up at the
BIOS output an sure enough the Multimedia device is on IRQ 11, along my
"Mass Storage Device" (I imagine the vacant HPT366 controller). So I muck
around in the BIOS for about a half-hour, trying to change the IRQ of the
PCI slot to one that's not taken. I can't get that to work so I take the
case off and just switch slots to get a different IRQ. Now when the
machine boots, it says the multimedia device is on IRQ 5. I don't see
anytyhing else in the BIOS output that says it would conflict with another
device on IRQ 5, so I figure everything's hunky-dory. When I boot linux,
I don't get any errors, but when I run OSS I still don't have any sound.
Go into the OSS config and make sure IRQ 5 isn't disabled (ironically, the
default is to disable IRQ 3, 4, and 5, with a comment that 3 and 4 are
usually used for the mouse, but nothing about why IRQ 5 is disabled).
After playing with OSS on and off for an hour, I say to myself "Self,
didn't I see Ensoniq AudioPCI drivers in the kernel config when I upgraded
to the 2.2.16 kernel?" "Why yes, I certainly did, lets get rid of this
bolluxed OSS, it's more trouble than it's worth." So I recompile the 
kernel a few times with different Sound options (Sound built in/Ensoniq
drivers as modules, Sound and Ensoniq drivers built in, Sound and Ensoniq
drivers compiled as modules, etc.) I play with these options a few
different ways to test, but nothing seems to work. Currently I have all of
the Sound options compiled as modules (so I could use the super-cool
sndconfig utility) , and I see it detect on startup and assign IRQs and
DMAs and start the mixer, et. al. Still no sound. 

This bring me to the whole point of this message. My next guess would be
trying to assign a different IRQ in the BIOS and see how that works, and
if I can't get it reassigned through the BIOS, the next step would be to
switch PCI slots again. I guess I was just hoping someone might be able to
give me a little hint of something else I could do, some mundane detail I
might have missed, or maybe give me a better picture of the BIOS specs so
I can set the right IRQ there rather than having to move the card. 

Once again, sorry I got so long winded, but I've always been told more
details are better than less, and probably saved a few people from asking
questions about what all I've tried.