the problem is a race condition with the init script. now that init scripts are run in parallel, a kludge was added to /etc/init.d/alsa- utils which simply waits until the file system is available. some other condition must also need to be satisfied. this is confirmed by the fact that the loss of sound for most people first started with Edgy.
-- sound (ALC880) does not work in edgy https://launchpad.net/bugs/77828 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
