hello., The sndconfig does not list via '97 How do I go about configuring sound on my box . Can someone help ? Newbie

It isn't listed because AC97 isn't the sound chip; it's a codec. For example, the two AC97 boards I've owned have acutally been two versions of the VIA 82C686. The newer one requires ALSA. If your old version of RedHat doesn't come with lspci, you'll have to either install it or look through your motherboard manual or online to identify the sound chip.

I had the same problem when I upgraded to an Athlon 950 (Chaintech mobo) that came with onboard sound (AC97). My hard disk had a dual-boot of Mandrake 8.2 and Mandrake 6.1 (basically same as Redhat at that time). I WAS using an old ISA Soundblaster card, but wanted to use the onboard sound. Unfortunately, it would only be recognized by sndconfig in the newer Mandrake. I have both sound devices in that computer now, so as to accomodate both versions of Mandrake. Try to set your sound device (probably in the BIOS if it's onboard) to a Soundblaster-compatible legacy device, and then pick Soundblaster in the sndconfig utility. Good luck.