touchpad fails at or sometime after boot on eee 1008HA

Touchpad and physical button non-responsive either at boot, or later on during session in Natty. USB mouse does subsequently work when attached.
Bug introduced in 2.6.38-4-generic, was not present in 2.6.38-3-generic.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.38-4-generic 2.6.38-4.31
Regression: Yes
Reproducible: No
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-4.31-generic 2.6.38-rc5
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-4-generic i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC269 Analog [ALC269 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: bouncysteve 1402 F.... pulseaudio
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xfbcb8000 irq 44'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC269'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0269,1043834a,00100004'
   Controls : 10
   Simple ctrls : 6
Date: Mon Feb 21 10:53:31 2011
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
Frequency: Once a day.
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=fc8c23ce-5fe6-4537-b1fa-825b6b80d177
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Alpha i386 (20110124)
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer INC. 1008HA
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 LC_MESSAGES=en_GB.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-2.6.38-4-generic root=UUID=b5e709a6-d0fa-43eb-89fe-460eb10cf449 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-2.6.38-4-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.38-4-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.47
SourcePackage: linux
dmi.bios.date: 08/18/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1103
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: 1008HA
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: x.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0x00000000
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.chassis.version: x.x
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr1103:bd08/18/2009:svnASUSTeKComputerINC.:pn1008HA:pvrx.x:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rn1008HA:rvrx.xx:cvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:ct10:cvrx.x:
dmi.product.name: 1008HA
dmi.product.version: x.x
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.