Arch Linux

which hda you use, there a tons of chipsets out there,
hwdetect --show-modules
and a lspci would be good

% hwdetect --show-modules
AGP : intel-agp
ACPI : ac battery button processor thermal video
PATA : ata_generic
SCSI : sd_mod st
SATA : ata_piix
USB : usbcore ehci-hcd uhci-hcd
FW : firewire-core firewire-ohci firewire-core firewire-ohci ieee1394 ohci1394
NET : ppp_generic slhc tg3 mac80211 iwl3945 cfg80211
INPUT : evdev ff-memless joydev pcspkr psmouse serio_raw tsdev hid usbhid usbhid
PCMCIA : pcmcia_core rsrc_nonstatic yenta_socket
SOUND : snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-hwdep snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd snd-hda-intel soundcore
VIDEO : output
OTHER : cdrom lp ppdev i2c-i801 i2c-core parport parport_pc pci_hotplug shpchp rtc-cmos rtc-core rtc-lib crc-itu-t

% lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Contoller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5755M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
04:01.0 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc. Cardbus bridge (rev 21)
04:01.4 FireWire (IEEE 1394): O2 Micro, Inc. Firewire (IEEE 1394) (rev 02)

I don't know if this is relevant, but the Master volume has no impact (positive or negative) on the IEC958 output. I believe that this is better known as SPDIF and it is what I have to enable to use my laptop's dock headphone jack.

i'll update later kernel and lsa lib too

try new kernel and alsa from testing

The new 2.6.23.1 kernel26 and new alsa-libs/utils don't seem have had an effect on this particular issue.

I will keep this bug report updated if new versions of the kernel change the behavior, but since the correct behavior is experienced if I leave Master at 100, I don't want to demand too much of your time.

I said I'd keep posted if new kernel versions have an effect. 2.6.23.1-2 doesn't (and this is expected since -2 only adds a i915 related patch)

My problem is related to the master volume...it simply does nothing! Only the PCM can raise and lower volume.
Same problem also on Ubuntu Gutsy...but unsolved with new alsa driver!

My hardware is an HP Pavilion dv5000(dv5245ea)
here comes some info:
[root@neurone ~]# lspci -n | grep `lspci | grep Audio | awk '{print $1}'`
00:1b.0 0403: 8086:27d8 (rev 01)

[root@neurone ~]# uname -a
Linux neurone 2.6.23-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Oct 27 09:04:14 UTC 2007 i686 Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2050 @ 1.60GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

[root@neurone ~]# hwdetect --show-modules
AGP : agpgart intel-agp
ACPI : ac battery button processor thermal video
PATA : ata_generic
SCSI : sd_mod sr_mod st
SATA : ahci ata_piix
USB : usbcore ehci-hcd uhci-hcd
FW : firewire-core firewire-ohci firewire-core firewire-ohci ieee1394 ohci1394
NET : e100 mii ieee80211_crypt ieee80211 ipw3945
INPUT : evdev joydev pcspkr psmouse serio_raw tsdev
PCMCIA : pcmcia_core rsrc_nonstatic yenta_socket
SOUND : snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-hwdep snd snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd-hda-intel soundcore
VIDEO : fb_ddc nvidia nvidiafb output vgastate
OTHER : cdrom intel-rng i2c-algo-bit i2c-i801 i2c-core tifm_7xx1 tifm_core mmc_core sdhci pci_hotplug shpchp rtc-cmos rtc-core rtc-lib crc-itu-t

[root@neurone ~]# aplay --list-devices
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: CONEXANT Analog [CONEXANT Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: Conexant Digital [Conexant Digital]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

[root@neurone ~]# lspci | grep Audio
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)

[root@neurone ~]# lsmod | grep ^snd
snd_hda_intel 286624 1
snd_seq_oss 29312 0
snd_seq_midi_event 6528 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 46800 4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 6924 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_hwdep 7300 1 snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm_oss 36896 0
snd_pcm 68996 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer 19332 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 8072 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_mixer_oss 14464 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd 44644 11 snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss

[root@neurone ~]# cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [Intel ]: HDA-Intel - HDA Intel
HDA Intel at 0xd2400000 irq 21

[root@neurone ~]# cat /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 | grep Codec
Codec: Conexant CX20551 (Waikiki)

http://www.archlinux.org/~tpowa/2.6.24/i686/rc2/
there the latest kernel with latest alsa is located, if you wanna test i could add latest alsa to next .23 kernel

kernel26 2.6.24-0.2 on x86_64 does not affect my volume gradually maxing out when Master < 100%

means doesn't work, right?

Right, I still have incorrect behavior despite using the new kernel

For what it's worth, using that kernel caused one of my two cores to run at 100% with no one to blame by checking with ps aux or top(1)

The problem is still here also with new version of kernel...
But my dual core seems to work well, i have no loads problem

status with kernel 2.6.24.1 ?