Comment 104 for bug 537448

Confirming bug on sony vaio VPCEC1M1E / lucid 10.04. Installing linux-alsa-driver-modules-2.6.32-22-generic from the ubuntu audio dev ppa and rebooting fixes the issue!

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-audio-dev/ppa/ubuntu
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install linux-alsa-driver-modules-2.6.32-22-generic

and restart :)

Extra information:
$ lspci -nn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller [8086:0044] (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port [8086:0045] (rev 02)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller [8086:3b64] (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [8086:3b3c] (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio [8086:3b56] (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:3b42] (rev 05)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:3b44] (rev 05)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 [8086:3b46] (rev 05)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 [8086:3b4c] (rev 05)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [8086:3b34] (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller [8086:3b09] (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:3b29] (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller [8086:3b30] (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Manhattan [Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series] [1002:68e0]
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc Manhattan HDMI Audio [Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series] [1002:aa68]
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002b] (rev 01)
03:00.0 SD Host controller [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd Device [1180:e822]
03:00.1 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd Device [1180:e230]
03:00.4 SD Host controller [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd Device [1180:e822]
04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Device [11ab:4381] (rev 11)
3f:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers [8086:2c62] (rev 02)
3f:00.1 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder [8086:2d01] (rev 02)
3f:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 [8086:2d10] (rev 02)
3f:02.1 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 [8086:2d11] (rev 02)
3f:02.2 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved [8086:2d12] (rev 02)
3f:02.3 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved [8086:2d13] (rev 02)