trouble with emu10k1 driver

I am running slackware boxed set 7.1 with kernel 2.2.16
I have a couple questions.

1) yesterday I started getting ioctl/(TIOCSETD(PPP)): errors
I tried everything out of the kernel and ppp how-tos and faq's. I even
reformatted and reinstalled linux because this was a fresh install but
that didn't work. What finally worked was deleting the partitions and
repartioning the drive. That finally worked. I am not sure what happened
here or why I needed such a drastic fix, seems to me the problem could
have been resolved some other way but I couldn't find it online. Any
info on this would be appreciated.

2) I have the emu10k1 drivers installed as modules and they are loading.
I can get sound with root but not as a normal user. Any suggestions?

thanks craig