sound problem

[Greg Foster <gfoster9055 comcast net>]

I have been having problems with my sound from day one, The only thing 
that works is streaming music from another computer or playing mp3 on 
this computer. If I use system sounds X lock ups.

Same results in KDS

The error i get now from xmms is:
Please check that:
Your sound card is configured properly
You have the correct output plug in selected
No other program is blocking the sound card

Error I get from most other programs is:
Error while initializing the sound driver:
device /dev/dsp can't be opened (No such device)

The sound server will continue, using the null output device

The /dev/dsp is on my system owned by root, group of audio

I would also like to get all speakers working on my system.

My system is a:
AMD 2.6
FIC AU13 motherboard
On board sound nforce2 6 channel
Radeon 9600 256mg video card
200gig hard drive
20gig hard drive
CDRW Liteon
DVDRW Liteon

Does not matter what kernel I use
I am currently using Kernel 2.6.8-2-k7

I am fairly new to Linux

Please help
Greg