/dev/dsp busy

[fheitka attglobal net]

I've somehow broken the gnome sounds.  I can start esd
and I hear the beeps.  I can also play CDs using the CD player app. 
Gmixer works OK too, as far as controlling volume from the CD player. 
What appears to happen as far as the gnome system sounds is that /dev/dsp
is busy doing something else. I can't find out what it's busy doing
though.  Can anyone help? I use the 4-front drivers and I'm using kernel
2.4.x and the latest driver.

Fred