Apologies for replying to myself .....

After much thrashing and debugging, through the "Pulseaudio", the "backports", and much testing, the resolution is so simple that it is almost embarassing.

The Intel onboard Internal Audio controller must be specified as "no amplifier". In the Pulseaudio "Volume Control", I set the output port to "Analog output, no amplifier" and (Voila ?) sound!!!!!

At one stage, I booted from the LiveCD, with no sound to be found. After setting to "No amplifier, the sound appeared.

FYI:

Code:
sean@UbLinux:~$ lspci | grep -i audio
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
sean@UbLinux:~$ 
sean@UbLinux:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards 
 0 [I82801DBICH4   ]: ICH4 - Intel 82801DB-ICH4
                      Intel 82801DB-ICH4 with Cx20468-31 at irq 17
sean@UbLinux:~$ 
sean@UbLinux:~$ fuser -v /dev/dsp* /dev/snd/*
                     USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0:  sean       1679 F.... pulseaudio
/dev/snd/pcmC0D0c:   sean       1679 F...m pulseaudio
/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p:   sean       1679 F...m pulseaudio
sean@UbLinux:~$
Code:
sean@UbLinux:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 0: Intel ICH [Intel 82801DB-ICH4]
  Subdevices: 0/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: I82801DBICH4 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4], device 4: Intel ICH - IEC958 [Intel 82801DB-ICH4 - IEC958]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
sean@UbLinux:~$