[ltp] ALSA always turns my microphone on...

[Steve K]

Hey folks --

First of all, thank you to those who helped me install ALSA on my t40 -- 
creating a debian package for my kernel fixed all my dependency problems.

Now I am having a strange problem and I have been unable to find a solution.  
When I start KDE, it seems like my microphone is automatically turned on and 
its input is sent to the speakers.  This is annoying because, if the volume 
is loud enough, i will get a screeching feedback sound coming out of my 
laptop.  I can mute the microphone and this fixes the problem, but the 
setting is not saved.

I think I have two problems here. 1) Why is the microphone's input getting 
directed to my speakers?  and 2) Why isn't KDE saving my settings?  Is the 
kde mixer (kmix) compatible with alsa?

thanks for any help!

cheers,
-steve