Had this problem on GE210, but this should fail for everyone.
Upgraded from F15 to F16 using preupdate.
pactl list
(no permissions errors, not found, etc.)
There is an FC15 unique problem, symlinks in pam...best fix is...
authconfig --updateall --nostart
rm -rf ~/.pulse
If that doesn't work, this also works...
su -c "usermod -aG pulse,pulse-access,jackuser,audio root"
Both of these survived after reboot. All users had sound icon, and audio devices.
http://rickfoosusa.blogspot.com/2011...-no-sound.html
Bug 746470, 753160