Xchat notification bell problem

[brk3]

hi,
on the older versions of xchat i could always turn on a system bell to beep when a message was posted in a channel. Now though in 2.4 i cannot get the bell to work, ive tried lots of things. Its annoying cause i now have to continuly check the irc window to see if anythings been said instead of just listening for a bell.
Anyone had this or know how to fix it?
I would much appriciate it!
Thanks
paul