[CentOS] Sound problems on envidia 6510 in Compaq SR5110NX

I've go a Compaq Presario (SR5110NX) that I've loaded CentOS 5 on and all is well except for the sound card. I understand that OSS supports the chipset but it's not being detected an loaded properly and I've invested a significant amount of time already. I've probably got an old supported card lying around here somewhere but I hat to give up on the principal. I would rather not download the proprietary drivers as that will create a dependency when the kernel is upgraded and I'm shipping this off to a remote law office where I'd like them to be a little more self sufficient than having to have me log in and recompile each time they upgrade a kernel. Any experience or advise with this would be appreciated.

Regards, Chuck