One should be ready to boot the new kernel and test the sound drivers. Follow your usual procedure for installing and rebooting the new kernel (keep the old kernel around in case of problems, of course). If you are using loadable kernel modules for sound, you will need to load them using the modprobe command for the appropriate drivers, e.g. run the command modprobe sb for a SoundBlaster card. After booting, or loading the kernel modules, check for a message such as the following using the dmesg command: Soundblaster audio driver Copyright (C) by Hannu Savolainen 1993-1996 sb: Creative SB AWE64 PnP detected sb: ISAPnP reports 'Creative SB AWE64 PnP' at i/o 0x220, irq 5, dma 1, 5 SB 4.16 detected OK (220) sb: 1 Soundblaster PnP card(s) found. Crystal 4280/46xx + AC97 Audio, version 1.22.32, 10:28:40 Apr 28 2001 cs46xx: Card found at 0xf4100000 and 0xf4000000, IRQ 11 cs46xx: Thinkpad 600X/A20/T20 (1014:0153) at 0xf4100000/0xf4000000, IRQ 11 ac97_codec: AC97 Audio codec, id: 0x4352:0x5914 (Cirrus Logic CS4297A rev B) The message should indicate that a sound card was found and match your sound card type and jumper settings (if any). The driver may also display some error messages and warnings if you have incorrectly configured the driver or chosen the wrong one.
