Sound: no mixer exists

[Leon Vismer]

Hi

I did an apt-get update; apt-get upgrade with the following kernel:
2.6.8.1-3-amd64-generic

I have the following sound card:
VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 60)

When I log into gnome I hear the welcome jingle however when I select
the Speaker->Open Volume Control the following message comes back
'Sorry, no mixer elements and/or devices found'

$ lsmod | grep via

snd_via82xx            30436  0
snd_ac97_codec         70276  1 snd_via82xx
snd_pcm                97828  2 snd_via82xx,snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc         12816  2 snd_via82xx,snd_pcm
gameport                5120  1 snd_via82xx
snd_mpu401_uart         8064  1 snd_via82xx
snd                    55912  9
snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
via82cxxx              14256  1
ide_core              150496  4 via82cxxx,ide_generic,ide_disk,ide_cd
sata_via                8580  10
libata                 42632  2 sata_via,sata_promise

$ ps ax | grep esd
3875 ?        Ss     0:00 /usr/bin/esd -terminate -nobeeps -as 2
-spawnfd 17

$ cat /etc/esound/esd.conf
[esd]
auto_spawn=1
spawn_options=-terminate -nobeeps -as 2
spawn_wait_ms=100
# default options are used in spawned and non-spawned mode
default_options=

How come the mixer is not initializing?

--
Leon