SB450 HDA Audio won't configure properly

A friend asked me to install Linux on a friend's new Toshiba A135 S2356 laptop. He got it from Circuit City for $499 after rebates and supposedly sans VISTA, but in the box I found the VISTA CDs.

I chose MEPIS32 6.5 because it detected all the hardware except the sound. PCLOS and FC7 detected neither the sound nor the athos wireless chip.

When I run alsaconf it detects the SB450 and gives no error messages when it installs the same driver that was detected during the install: snd_hda_intel.

I tried the 4Front OSS driver (.deb package) but it crashed during install and now I cannot remove the package from the system using either synaptic, kpackage, apt-get purge or direct dpkg commands. All the 4Front files are gone, but the name "oss-linux" remains in the package database.

The sound chip is:
Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SB450 HDA Audio (rev 01) and MEPIS used the snd_hda_intel driver. The Kmixer shows in the tool bar but the sound is muted. I can unmute it and run the volume to 100% but still no sound. When I open the sound mixer window I see two settings, "CallerID" and "Off-hook", so it is obvious that MEPIS is confusing the sound chip with the internal dialup modem chip.

lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_intel 15768 1
snd_hda_codec 195760 1 snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm_oss 37408 0
snd_mixer_oss 14336 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 62856 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 18308 1 snd_pcm
snd 45928 8 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 7008 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 7560 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

Here is the hardware listing:
lshw
mepis1
description: Computer
width: 32 bits
*-core
description: Motherboard
physical id: 0
*-memory
description: System memory
physical id: 0
size: 446MB
*-cpu
product: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M CPU 520 @ 1.60GHz
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 1
bus info: cpu@0
version: 6.15.6
serial: 0000-06F6-0000-0000-0000-0000
size: 1600MHz
width: 64 bits
capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss tm pbe nx x86-64 pni monitor ds_cpl tm2 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm
*-pci
description: Host bridge
product: ATI Technologies Inc
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@00:00.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
*-pci:0
description: PCI bridge
product: RS480 PCI Bridge
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@00:01.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: RC410 [Radeon Xpress 200M]
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 5
bus info: pci@01:05.0
version: 00
size: 128MB
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: vga bus_master cap_list
resources: iomemory:d8000000-dfffffff ioport:9000-90ff iomemory:d0000000-d000ffff irq:11
*-pci:1
description: PCI bridge
product: RS480 PCI Bridge
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 6
bus info: pci@00:06.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=pcieport-driver
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: Atheros Communications, Inc.
vendor: Atheros Communications, Inc.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@02:00.0
logical name: wifi0
version: 01
serial: 00:16:e3:ff:23:76
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath_pci ip=192.168.1.104 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g
resources: iomemory:d0100000-d010ffff irq:20
*-ide:0
description: IDE interface
product: ATI 4379 Serial ATA Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 12
bus info: pci@00:12.0
logical name: scsi0
logical name: scsi1
version: 80
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ide bus_master cap_list scsi-host
configuration: driver=sata_sil
resources: ioport:8440-8447 ioport:8430-8433 ioport:8420-8427 ioport:8410-8413 ioport:8400-840f iomemory:d0507000-d05071ff irq:18
*-usb:0
description: USB Controller
product: IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 13
bus info: pci@00:13.0
version: 80
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd
resources: iomemory:d0504000-d0504fff irq:19
*-usbhost
product: OHCI Host Controller
vendor: Linux 2.6.15-27-desktop ohci_hcd
physical id: 1
bus info: usb@2
logical name: usb2
version: 2.06
capabilities: usb-1.10
configuration: driver=hub maxpower=0mA slots=4 speed=12.0MB/s
*-usb
description: Mouse
vendor: Holtek Semiconductor, Inc.
physical id: 4
bus info: usb@2:4
version: 7.00
capabilities: usb-1.10
configuration: driver=usbhid maxpower=100mA speed=1.5MB/s
*-usb:1
description: USB Controller
product: IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 13.1
bus info: pci@00:13.1
version: 80
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ohci bus_master
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd
resources: iomemory:d0505000-d0505fff irq:19
*-usbhost
product: OHCI Host Controller
vendor: Linux 2.6.15-27-desktop ohci_hcd
physical id: 1
bus info: usb@3
logical name: usb3
version: 2.06
capabilities: usb-1.10
configuration: driver=hub maxpower=0mA slots=4 speed=12.0MB/s
*-usb:2
description: USB Controller
product: IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 13.2
bus info: pci@00:13.2
version: 80
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ehci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd
resources: iomemory:d0506000-d0506fff irq:19
*-usbhost
product: EHCI Host Controller
vendor: Linux 2.6.15-27-desktop ehci_hcd
physical id: 1
bus info: usb@1
logical name: usb1
version: 2.06
capabilities: usb-2.00
configuration: driver=hub maxpower=0mA slots=8 speed=480.0MB/s
*-serial UNCLAIMED
description: SMBus
product: IXP SB400 SMBus Controller
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14
bus info: pci@00:14.0
version: 82
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
resources: ioport:8450-845f iomemory:d0507400-d05077ff
*-ide:1
description: IDE interface
product: Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller ATI
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14.1
bus info: pci@00:14.1
version: 80
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: ide bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ATIIXP_IDE
resources: ioport:8460-846f irq:17
*-ide
description: IDE Channel 1
physical id: 1
bus info: ide@1
logical name: ide1
clock: 66MHz
*-cdrom
product: TSSTcorpCD/DVDW TS-L632D
physical id: 0
bus info:
logical name: /dev/hdc
capabilities: packet
*-multimedia
description: Audio device
product: SB450 HDA Audio
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14.2
bus info: pci@00:14.2
version: 01
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=HDA Intel
resources: iomemory:d0500000-d0503fff irq:17
*-isa UNCLAIMED
description: ISA bridge
product: IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14.3
bus info: pci@00:14.3
version: 80
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master
*-pci:2
description: PCI bridge
product: IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 14.4
bus info: pci@00:14.4
version: 80
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci subtractive_decode bus_master
*-pcmcia
description: CardBus bridge
product: CB1410 Cardbus Controller
vendor: ENE Technology Inc
physical id: 4
bus info: pci@09:04.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pcmcia bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=yenta_cardbus
resources: iomemory:d0201000-d0201fff irq:16
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 6
bus info: pci@09:06.0
logical name: eth0
version: 10
serial: 00:16:d4:f7:a3:78
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=8139too multicast=yes
resources: ioport:a000-a0ff iomemory:d0200000-d02000ff irq:18