[ltp] T40 elusive ALSA problem: sound not working in 2.6.11-rc2

[Bob Alexander]

Friends,
this is really elusive.

Same machine T40 with 2.6.10 sounds works fine.

With 2.6.11-rc2 here is the situation:

1) alsaconf configures correctly an intel8x0 card
2) alsamixer shows card 82801DB-ICH4 with AD1981B chip. Volumes are high 
and not muted
3) alsactl restore gives a warning "set_control: 930: warning name 
mismatch ... (external apmplifier/headphone ...) for control #26
4) volume buttons (Thinkpad T40 are all the way up), GNOME volume applet 
is 100%
5) XMMS shows an mp3 playing with the equalizer moving but TOTAL SILENCE

lsmod under 2.6.11-rc3 shows:
snd                    55460  8 
snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_intel8x0           33600  1
snd_ac97_codec         78520  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm_oss            54304  0
snd_mixer_oss          20608  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc         10052  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
snd_pcm                96840  3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              26564  1 snd_pcm

while in the working 2.6.10 it shows a seemingly identical:

snd                    54692  8 
snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_intel8x0           33312  1
snd_ac97_codec         77152  1 snd_intel8x0
snd_pcm_oss            54244  0
snd_mixer_oss          20352  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc          9988  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
snd_pcm                98312  3 snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              25860  1 snd_pcm

So what next ???????????????????????????

TIA,
Bob