This bugzilla has Keywords: Regression. Since no regressions are allowed between releases, it is also being proposed as a blocker for this release. Please resolve ASAP.
It's not regression. We went in bug#470449 from no audio to rear audio output with really small patch. So there is progress for RHEL 5.3 from RHEL 5.2. Unfortunately, the autoconfiguration for the HDA codec in 5.3 tree cannot handle correctly this hardware and the eventual fix might broke something else in the HDA driver which cannot be tested in the relatively small time window. I just created the bug#483594 which should address the new ALSA HDA code backport for RHEL 5.4.
Updating PM score.
Affected Hardware: FSC CELSIUS R670 workstation (prototype) with Tylersburg Chipset and in this case ICH10 and ALC663 codec.
The bug#483594 now contains updated RHEL5.4 kernel with latest ALSA HDA sound driver. Feedback (test status) welcome.
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 483594 ***