Audio CD issue -- most everything but noise

[Gary Aitken]

I'm having trouble getting an audio cd to make any (pleasant) noise (9.0 release).

The cd mounts a regular file system ok and audio generally works ok -- playing from a file works.

>cdcontrol eject  (works)
>cdcontrol info   (displays reasonable TOC)
>cdcontrol play   (returns to prompt but I hear nothing)
>cdcontrol status
Audio status = 17<playing>, current track = 2, current position = 0:25.43
No media catalog info available
Left volume = 255, right volume = 255

Successive status requests look like it is progressing through the CD just fine.

Specifying an argument to play fails:
>cdcontrol play 1
cdcontrol: Invalid argument

>cdcontrol debug on
cdcontrol: Inappropriate ioctl for device

and the -v argument produces no verbose output.

The CD does not have any direct to mobo audio wire, only the ATA cable.  
I'm assuming fbsd gets the audio down the ata cable, correct?

If I do

>cdcontrol pause
>cdcontrol status

I hear the CD spin up, and it stays spinning for a while.
If I wait for it to spin down and then do

>cdcontrol resume
cdcontrol: Input/output error
>cdcontrol play

I never hear the device spin up.

>cdcontrol pause
>cdcontrol resume
>cdcontrol status

Gives no error message, nor does the device spin up after the resume.
The status does show it playing, however.

Thanks for any helpful hints, I'm totally confused.

Gary