Have you read the alsa wiki? Make sure your exact card is actually supported too, just in case.
]]>(I rarely listen to music off of my computer but sometimes it is nice to have)
]]>Here's the code in my modprobe.conf relating to the ALSA drivers. You'll need to find out you cards specific information and change the driver...
# Alsa 0.9.X kernel modules' configuration file.
# ALSA portion
alias char-major-116 snd
# OSS/Free portion
alias char-major-14 soundcore
##
## IMPORTANT:
## You need to customise this section for your specific sound card(s)
## Read alsa-driver's INSTALL file in /usr/share/doc for more info.
##
## ALSA portion
#alias snd-card-0 snd-cs4232
alias snd-card-0 snd-cs4236
# You have to specify every damm paramter to get it working:
options snd-cs4236 isapnp=0 cport=0x538 port=0x530 sb_port=0x220 fm_port=0x388 irq=5 dma1=1 dma2=0
## alias snd-card-0 snd-interwave
## alias snd-card-1 snd-ens1371
## OSS/Free portion
alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0
alias sound-slot-1 snd-card-1
##
# OSS/Free portion - card #1
alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss
alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss
alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seq-oss
alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss
## OSS/Free portion - card #2
## alias sound-service-1-0 snd-mixer-oss
## alias sound-service-1-3 snd-pcm-oss
## alias sound-service-1-12 snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss
alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss
alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss
# Set this to the correct number of cards.
options snd cards_limit=1
What sound card you using?
]]>You couth try running 'alsaconf' as a root or enable hotpug if its disabled. See also the archwiki
http://wiki2.archlinux.org/index.php/Alsa%20setup
audio:x:92:bear (me)
Also, i got the same message when I tried this as root.
]]>function snd_ctl_open failed for default: no such file or directory
]]>