Starting with the 2.6.17 kernels, the PC speaker is non-functional. The pcspkr module will load, but it doesn't log anything, and the PC speaker remains non-functional. If I revert to a 2.6.16 kernel, the PC speaker works again.
I haven't had any such problem, on 2 different machines. You should provide a description of your hardware.
A new kernel update has been released (Version: 2.6.18-1.2200.fc5) based upon a new upstream kernel release. Please retest against this new kernel, as a large number of patches go into each upstream release, possibly including changes that may address this problem. This bug has been placed in NEEDINFO state. Due to the large volume of inactive bugs in bugzilla, if this bug is still in this state in two weeks time, it will be closed. Should this bug still be relevant after this period, the reporter can reopen the bug at any time. Any other users on the Cc: list of this bug can request that the bug be reopened by adding a comment to the bug. In the last few updates, some users upgrading from FC4->FC5 have reported that installing a kernel update has left their systems unbootable. If you have been affected by this problem please check you only have one version of device-mapper & lvm2 installed. See bug 207474 for further details. If this bug is a problem preventing you from installing the release this version is filed against, please see bug 169613. If this bug has been fixed, but you are now experiencing a different problem, please file a separate bug for the new problem. Thank you.
I only saw this problem on my office PC, which is a Dell Optiplex GX620. But regardless, one of the last few kernel updates fixed this issue. (I don't remember exactly which one, but it was one of the last 2.6.17 kernels.)