APOLOGY APOLOGY APOLOGY
I got it wrong. There has been NO CHANGE to the "models" supported for the ALC888 codec in the current MGA2 kernel. doctor5000 provided a link to the supported models list which is absolutely correct. Incidentally, the linked document actually illustrates my problem with the ALC662 codec, but that is another matter.
smoreau wrote:I do not clearly understand what does that mean. Is there no hope that the new Mageia2 will be able to drive the sound card of my laptop which is only one year old ?
This is my understanding. Hopefully you will see how it might apply to you: the snd-hda-intel driver looks like it is only for Intel implementations of the high definition audio standard. In fact, all manufacturers must produce "sound cards" which properly implement the high definition audio standard, so
in theory one driver should do all. In practice they all do their own thing with tweaks and enhancements, and sometimes (mostly?) with some mistakes. In addition, motherboard BIOS representation of motherboard "sound cards" isn't always accurate.
The result is that the Alsa driver writers have a lot of moving targets which we want them to hit accurately every time a new one appears. Many "special cases" must be handled, particularly when probing methods do not get all the information needed. Just look again at the "models" listed for your ALC888 codec (manufactured by Realtek, I think). Some of the names clearly relate to specific implementations in specific manufacturers' computer designs (eg. acer-aspire-7730g). Others are more generally applicable to some types of motherboard implementation which may be used by more than one manufacturer (eg. 3stack-dig). There is also one which the driver writer hopes will be good enough for most people with most examples of this codec in most equipment; it's called "auto" and it causes the BIOS and hardware to be probed for information so that the right connections can be set up (we hope!).
If you are NOT using a "options snd-hda-intel model=some-model-name" line in your /etc/modprobe.conf file or in a file in your /etc/modprobe.d directory THEN you are, by default, using the "auto" model.
Your original statement of your problem looks like it is more fundamental than just not detecting all of the right connections for your sound hardware. By now it is possible that updates have corrected some of the initialisation issues you have suffered. The fix indicated by doctor5000 is quite easy to apply and solved a lot of problems for me.
Finally there is the "obfuscation" of the details of your sound hardware caused (quite deliberately and with good intentions) by the pulseaudio layer. In my limited experience and exposure, Pulse mixers tend to simplify the view presented to you of the underlying hardware. You may look to see the cause of a problem of no sound, and all of the possible Pulse level controls may be at maximum, but perhaps the input you are using wasn't even detected by the driver so no amount of twiddling controls will help. The information you need is in the system (probably in the /proc directory) but it can be easier to use a simple Alsa mixer to get an understandable overview of what inputs and outputs and switches are available.
For example, my TV sound is connected to the CD header plug on the motherboard. After a kernel update last week it went silent. When I look at the alsamixer representation of my sound hardware I can immediately see there is no longer a CD level control or a CD capture option available. Instead I have numerous inputs and outputs which simply do not exist on my motherboard. That is a clear indication that something went wrong in the detection of my sound hardware capabilities.
What is the current status? Can you get sound from any input, or from audio or video file playback? Can you play a CD or a DVD with sound? Does your microphone work?
If you would like to post the contents of /proc/asound/card0/codec#0 (assuming this exists on your system) it would show the detail of what capabilities have been detected.
Hope this helps add to your understanding and not to your confusion

Richard