I am new to BSD and I am experimenting with getting an old(ish) Packard Bell desktop machine out of mothballs. The basic installation of FreeBSD 10.1-RELEASE for amd64 seems to have gone fine, but I am stuck trying to get the sound card working.

The hardware is based on a Gigabyte motherboard hosting an Intel P4 processor, with integrated audio that uses the Intel High Definition Audio chipset. Under Linux the audio driver selected is `snd_hda_intel`, and the expectation under FreeBSD was that the `snd_hda` module would drive the audio.

After installing FreeBSD the sound was not working, but I followed the instructions available online in a number of places, using `kldload` to experiment with different drivers. I found that the amd64 GENERIC kernel already has `sound` and many sound drivers pre-loaded, so efforts to use `kldload` were misplaced. However, there is no record of any driver installed in the `/dev/sndstat` file, and attempts to make noise by typing `cat /random > /dev/dsp` return error messages saying the operation is not allowed. 

What I want to know is, am I wasting my effort to get an ageing sound card working, or is there some trick I have missed?

**Further Information:**

This section was added at the suggestion of contributors to answers.

The output of `pciconf -lv` has the following entry for the audio controller:

```
hdac0@pci0:0:27:0:  class=0x040300 card=0xe0111631 chip=0x26688086 rev=0x03 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Intel Corporation'
    device     = '82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller'
    class      = multimedia
    subclass   = HDA

```

The output of `dmesg` is as follows:

```
Copyright (c) 1992-2014 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
FreeBSD is a registered trademark of The FreeBSD Foundation.
FreeBSD 10.1-RELEASE #0 r274401: Tue Nov 11 21:02:49 UTC 2014
    root@releng1.nyi.freebsd.org:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC amd64
FreeBSD clang version 3.4.1 (tags/RELEASE_34/dot1-final 208032) 20140512
VT: running with driver "vga".
module_register: module at91_mci/mmc already exists!
Module at91_mci/mmc failed to register: 17
module_register: module sdhci_bcm/mmc already exists!
Module sdhci_bcm/mmc failed to register: 17
module_register: module sdhci_fdt/mmc already exists!
Module sdhci_fdt/mmc failed to register: 17
module_register: module sdhci_imx/mmc already exists!
Module sdhci_imx/mmc failed to register: 17
module_register: module sdhci_pci/mmc already exists!
Module sdhci_pci/mmc failed to register: 17
module_register: module sdhci_ti/mmc already exists!
Module sdhci_ti/mmc failed to register: 17
module_register: module ti_mmchs/mmc already exists!
Module ti_mmchs/mmc failed to register: 17
module_register: module mmc/mmcsd already exists!
Module mmc/mmcsd failed to register: 17
CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz (3059.06-MHz K8-class CPU)
  Origin = "GenuineIntel"  Id = 0xf41  Family = 0xf  Model = 0x4  Stepping = 1
  Features=0xbfebfbff<FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CLFLUSH,DTS,ACPI,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,SS,HTT,TM,PBE>
  Features2=0x651d<SSE3,DTES64,MON,DS_CPL,TM2,CNXT-ID,CX16,xTPR>
  AMD Features=0x20100800<SYSCALL,NX,LM>
  TSC: P-state invariant
real memory  = 3221225472 (3072 MB)
avail memory = 3090366464 (2947 MB)
Event timer "LAPIC" quality 400
ACPI APIC Table: <GBT    AWRDACPI>
ioapic0 <Version 2.0> irqs 0-23 on motherboard
random: <Software, Yarrow> initialized
module_register_init: MOD_LOAD (vesa, 0xffffffff80d942e0, 0) error 19
kbd1 at kbdmux0
acpi0: <GBT AWRDACPI> on motherboard
acpi0: Power Button (fixed)
acpi0: reservation of 0, a0000 (3) failed
acpi0: reservation of 100000, bfef0000 (3) failed
cpu0: <ACPI CPU> on acpi0
attimer0: <AT timer> port 0x40-0x43 irq 0 on acpi0
Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 0
Event timer "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz quality 100
atrtc0: <AT realtime clock> port 0x70-0x73 irq 8 on acpi0
Event timer "RTC" frequency 32768 Hz quality 0
acpi_button0: <Power Button> on acpi0
pcib0: <ACPI Host-PCI bridge> port 0xcf8-0xcff on acpi0
pci0: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib0
pcib1: <PCI-PCI bridge> irq 16 at device 1.0 on pci0
pci1: <PCI bus> on pcib1
vgapci0: <VGA-compatible display> port 0x9000-0x90ff mem 0xe0000000-0xe3ffffff,0xe5000000-0xe500ffff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
vgapci0: Boot video device
vgapci1: <VGA-compatible display> mem 0xe5010000-0xe501ffff at device 0.1 on pci1
hdac0: <Intel 82801F HDA Controller> mem 0xe6100000-0xe6103fff irq 16 at device 27.0 on pci0
uhci0: <Intel 82801FB/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6) USB controller USB-A> port 0xbc00-0xbc1f irq 23 at device 29.0 on pci0
usbus0 on uhci0
uhci1: <Intel 82801FB/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6) USB controller USB-B> port 0xb000-0xb01f irq 19 at device 29.1 on pci0
usbus1 on uhci1
uhci2: <Intel 82801FB/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6) USB controller USB-C> port 0xb400-0xb41f irq 18 at device 29.2 on pci0
usbus2 on uhci2
uhci3: <Intel 82801FB/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6) USB controller USB-D> port 0xb800-0xb81f irq 16 at device 29.3 on pci0
usbus3 on uhci3
ehci0: <Intel 82801FB (ICH6) USB 2.0 controller> mem 0xe6104000-0xe61043ff irq 23 at device 29.7 on pci0
usbus4: EHCI version 1.0
usbus4 on ehci0
pcib2: <ACPI PCI-PCI bridge> at device 30.0 on pci0
pci2: <ACPI PCI bus> on pcib2
ath0: <Atheros 9220> mem 0xe6000000-0xe600ffff irq 20 at device 0.0 on pci2
ath0: [HT] enabling HT modes
ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC receive enabled
ath0: [HT] 1 stream STBC transmit enabled
ath0: [HT] 2 RX streams; 2 TX streams
ath0: AR9220 mac 128.2 RF5133 phy 13.0
ath0: 2GHz radio: 0x0000; 5GHz radio: 0x00c0
pci2: <simple comms, generic modem> at device 1.0 (no driver attached)
rl0: <RealTek 8139 10/100BaseTX> port 0xa400-0xa4ff mem 0xe6014000-0xe60140ff irq 21 at device 5.0 on pci2
miibus0: <MII bus> on rl0
rlphy0: <RealTek internal media interface> PHY 0 on miibus0
rlphy0:  10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
rl0: Ethernet address: 00:14:85:40:4d:00
pci2: <serial bus, FireWire> at device 7.0 (no driver attached)
isab0: <PCI-ISA bridge> at device 31.0 on pci0
isa0: <ISA bus> on isab0
atapci0: <Intel ICH6 SATA150 controller> port 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6,0x170-0x177,0x376,0xf000-0xf00f at device 31.2 on pci0
ata0: <ATA channel> at channel 0 on atapci0
ata1: <ATA channel> at channel 1 on atapci0
uart0: <16550 or compatible> port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4 flags 0x10 on acpi0
uart1: <16550 or compatible> port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3 on acpi0
ppc0: <Parallel port> port 0x378-0x37f,0x778-0x77b irq 7 drq 3 on acpi0
ppc0: Generic chipset (ECP/PS2/NIBBLE) in COMPATIBLE mode
ppc0: FIFO with 16/16/16 bytes threshold
ppbus0: <Parallel port bus> on ppc0
lpt0: <Printer> on ppbus0
lpt0: Interrupt-driven port
ppi0: <Parallel I/O> on ppbus0
atkbdc0: <Keyboard controller (i8042)> port 0x60,0x64 irq 1 on acpi0
atkbd0: <AT Keyboard> irq 1 on atkbdc0
kbd0 at atkbd0
atkbd0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
orm0: <ISA Option ROMs> at iomem 0xc0000-0xcbfff,0xcc000-0xd3fff,0xd4000-0xd4fff on isa0
p4tcc0: <CPU Frequency Thermal Control> on cpu0
random: unblocking device.
usbus0: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
fuse-freebsd: version 0.4.4, FUSE ABI 7.8
Timecounters tick every 1.000 msec
hdacc0: <Realtek ALC880 HDA CODEC> at cad 2 on hdac0
hdaa0: <Realtek ALC880 Audio Function Group> at nid 1 on hdacc0
usbus1: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus2: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
usbus3: 12Mbps Full Speed USB v1.0
ugen0.1: <Intel> at usbus0
uhub0: <Intel UHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus0
ugen1.1: <Intel> at usbus1
uhub1: <Intel UHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus1
ugen2.1: <Intel> at usbus2
uhub2: <Intel UHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus2
ugen3.1: <Intel> at usbus3
uhub3: <Intel UHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus3
usbus4: 480Mbps High Speed USB v2.0
ugen4.1: <Intel> at usbus4
uhub4: <Intel EHCI root HUB, class 9/0, rev 2.00/1.00, addr 1> on usbus4
uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhub1: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhub2: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
uhub3: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
ada0 at ata0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
ada0: <ST3200826AS 3.03> ATA-7 SATA 1.x device
ada0: Serial Number 5ND1T70S
ada0: 150.000MB/s transfers (SATA, UDMA5, PIO 8192bytes)
ada0: 190782MB (390721968 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
ada0: Previously was known as ad0
cd0 at ata1 bus 0 scbus1 target 0 lun 0
cd0: <HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8163B 0N21> Removable CD-ROM SCSI-0 device 
cd0: 66.700MB/s transfers (UDMA4, ATAPI 12bytes, PIO 65534bytes)
cd0: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
cd1 at ata1 bus 0 scbus1 target 1 lun 0
cd1: <PHILIPS DVDR1628P1 Q2.4> Removable CD-ROM SCSI-0 device 
cd1: Serial Number V7121S52961724
cd1: 33.300MB/s transfers (UDMA2, ATAPI 12bytes, PIO 65534bytes)
cd1: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
Timecounter "TSC-low" frequency 1529530837 Hz quality 1000
Root mount waiting for: usbus4
Root mount waiting for: usbus4
Root mount waiting for: usbus4
uhub4: 8 ports with 8 removable, self powered
Root mount waiting for: usbus4
Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ada0p2 [rw]...
ugen0.2: <vendor 0x058f> at usbus0
umass0: <vendor 0x058f USB Reader, class 0/0, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 2> on usbus0
umass0:  SCSI over Bulk-Only; quirks = 0x4001
umass0:2:0:-1: Attached to scbus2
da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus2 target 0 lun 0
da0: <Generic USB SD Reader 1.00> Removable Direct Access SCSI-0 device 
da0: Serial Number 2004888
da0: 1.000MB/s transfers
da0: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
da0: quirks=0x2<NO_6_BYTE>
da1 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus2 target 0 lun 1
da1: <Generic USB CF Reader 1.01> Removable Direct Access SCSI-0 device 
da1: Serial Number 2004888
da1: 1.000MB/s transfers
da1: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
da1: quirks=0x2<NO_6_BYTE>
da2 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus2 target 0 lun 2
da2: <Generic USB SM Reader 1.02> Removable Direct Access SCSI-0 device 
da2: Serial Number 2004888
da2: 1.000MB/s transfers
da2: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
da2: quirks=0x2<NO_6_BYTE>
da3 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus2 target 0 lun 3
da3: <Generic USB MS Reader 1.03> Removable Direct Access SCSI-0 device 
da3: Serial Number 2004888
da3: 1.000MB/s transfers
da3: Attempt to query device size failed: NOT READY, Medium not present
da3: quirks=0x2<NO_6_BYTE>
ugen3.2: <Logitech> at usbus3
wlan0: Ethernet address: 00:24:01:ee:97:ea
ums0: <Logitech USB-PS2 Optical Mouse, class 0/0, rev 2.00/11.10, addr 2> on usbus3
ums0: 3 buttons and [XYZ] coordinates ID=0
WARNING: attempt to domain_add(bluetooth) after domainfinalize()

```

As far as I can tell from the hieroglyphics on the motherboard, the board is a `Gigabyte GA-81915PM`. I hope that means more to someone than it does to me!