Hi, The problem is indeed funny and interesting. I am sorry that in place of getting to the details of Mandriva 2008.0 problems with snd_hda_intel (ICH7) I am seeking a quick fix here.

Everything about the sound card functions well, if one connects the external headphone, including the internal speaker on Lenovo 3000 N100 07687YU laptop. When one sets external amplifier in alsamixer to mute, the internal speaker gets muted. But there is no way to mute/unmute the external amplifier. When I physically disconnect the external amplifier, the internal speaker also stops working irrespective of what the settings are in Alsamixer. Though, I could not find the solution on the web, but I believe, someone out there would know it instaneously. It was working fine with Mandriva 2007.0

$ lspci
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Lenovo Unknown device 2066

$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_seq_dummy 3492 0
snd_seq_oss 29888 0
snd_seq_midi_event 6912 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 46800 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 7276 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 37216 0
snd_mixer_oss 14784 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_hda_intel 284028 2
snd_pcm 69636 2 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer 19652 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 8456 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_hwdep 7492 1 snd_hda_intel
snd 45092 13 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_hwd ep
soundcore 6624 1 snd

I tried looking at dmesg, in /var/logs, and /etc/asound.{names,state} but nothing unusual was noticed.

I would appreciate the help given that I am going to install 2008.0 on other Lenovo and HP laptops.

Rajiv