This machine spams dmesg _very_ frequently with the following message:

    ALSA sound/pci/via82xx.c:737: invalid via82xx_cur_ptr, using last 
valid pointer

It doesn't happen constantly but comes in bursts.  I haven't any idea 
what triggers it since I can be playing 20 minutes without any messages 
then there will be 50 of them with no change in computer usage.

David