log message "kernel: Sound error: Couldn't allocate DMA buffer"

[sos@skypoint.com (Steve Siegfried)]

Folks,

I use a number of audio cues on my PC running Linux (AOL's "You've got mail"
audio-snippet hooked up to coolmail, a Westminister clock that chimes on the
quarter hour, etc).  Starting somwhere back about RH5.2 and continuing with
RH6.0, I've seen a number of sound failures with log messages like:

   > Jun 24 11:15:00 <nodename> kernel: Sound error: Couldn't allocate DMA buffer 

Often while this is happening, invoking sox gives:
   > sox: Can't open output file '/dev/dsp': Cannot allocate memory


The funny thing about this is that after I boot, sound works just fine.
But once that log message shows up, my PC remains mute until I reboot.

Anybody else seen something like this and possibly know the cure?

thanks,

-Steve Siegfried
 sos@skypoint.com