Sound issue with Panasonic Toughbook CF-29

[Kevin K]

Before I try calling Red Hat support, I thought I would see if anyone  
here has an idea.

I've been experimenting with RHEL 3, Update 8, on a new Toughbook  
that is currently dual booted with Windows (just during the  
evaluation stage).

Anyway, if the sound is muted under Windows, I can't get any system  
sounds when booted under RedHat.  This includes sounds such as the  
beeps when you insert a PCMCIA card, Ctrl G, etc.  I would assume  
also under KDE if I had installed those programs.

If I reboot, and enable sound under Windows, when booted back in RH  
the above sounds work fine.

It would appear that, according to the mixer, the volumes are at 67  
in both cases.

The sound card is apparently the SigmaTel™ 9751 audio controller,  
using the i810 audio driver.

I need some setting that doesn't include Windows, since Windows won't  
be installed on our systems, but I don't know if it can be guaranteed  
that the sound card won't be muted before Linux is installed in the  
future.

Thanks,
Kevin