kmix broken - permission problem?

I messed up kmix while logged in as user. The window pops up, but there are no controls, just this message 'Invalid mixer "SigmaTel STAC9708/11" '. If I log into KDE as root, kmix works, CD's play. So kmix itself isn't broken, I just can't get it working as user. Is this likely to be a permissions issue, and if so where would I look to fix this? Or another problem? Thanks. Paul Babiak - running plain SuSE 7.2 p.s. my ISP -rogers- has broken email. I won't get this email back from the SuSE list.