[CentOS] Sound Events in Gnome

In Centos 4.1:

The sound events in Gnome see to sort of work.

The start up (login) wave file however never plays.

Various event sounds once logged in do seem to work.

The logout wave file barely gets a few notes off
before the final exit back to the login screen occurs.

What could be causing the startup/logout sounds from not
working correctly?

Is there a work around for this?