In article <424B587A.C4319C3@bom.gov.au>,
	"Paul (NCC/CS)." <pts@bom.gov.au> writes:
> my sound system doesn't work.

What is the actual problem? E.g. does your computer explode? Does the
kernel panic? Don't you hear anything?

> I believe I have a "SoundMAX integrated digital audio"
> on the motherboard sound chip called an "AC ' 97".

That sounds like the sound chip I have got on my Intel D865PERLK.

> The netbsd guide says to uncomment pnpbios and a mainboard
> audio chip device in the kernel config file for on board chips.

That hint is outdated. What is the URL for that hint?
Modern motherboards use PCI for the onboard sound.

> Even before the rebuild the demesg said the following:
> 
> auich0 at pci0 dev 31 function 5: i82801BA (ICH2) AC-97 Audio
> auich0: interrupting at irq 10
> auich0: ADS96 codec; headphone, Analog Devices Phat Stereo
> audio0 at auich0: full duplex, mmap, independent

That looks fine.

> I notice also:
> Anyway it just doesn't work.
> I've been testing it by :
> cat some_file > /dev/audio
> as it says to in the guide.

Another bad hint.

Please try something else e.g to playback a MP3 file with
"pkgsrc/audio/mpg123".

	Kind regards

-- 
Matthias Scheler                                  http://scheler.de/~matthias/