hmm, weird - i looked up your laptop (thinkpad x23, yes?) and I read
it's only ACPI - perhaps the site I read was simply wrong. are you sure
APM is actually working (i.e., it sees your battery, is handling
throttling/power-control, etc.) ?
$ apm -m
AC off-line, battery status high: 99% (141 min)
looks like it.
it's always been happy under 7.3, 8.0 and 9
also, did using acpi=off fix your sound card issue?
yes.
-sv