Kernel 2.6.14-1.1653 fails to mount CD's and DVD's on a Dell Inspiron 1200 (Solved?)

[Temlakos]

Temlakos wrote:
> That's right. I discovered that last night. I put a video DVD, and then 
> an audio CD, into the drive. Not only did it not mount, but Nautilus 
> refused to mount it when I asked it to.
> 
> Every other kernel has mounted such media without a hitch.
> 
> The Gateway Performance 1000XL mounts these media just fine--and not 
> only that, it will launch the preferred players of these media as soon 
> as the mount takes place.
> 
> This illustrates the need to have more than one kernel installed on your 
> machine. I maintain at least three, these being the three most current.
> 
> Perhaps it also illustrats the urgency of the need to standardize laptop 
> equipment. I understand that, contrary to the impression one gets from 
> looking at the plethora of maker labels, all laptops come from a limited 
> list of perhaps three or four manufacturers. The big vendors will buy 
> these laptops and slap their labels on them. But the lack of standards 
> has always hindered Linux on a laptop. I recognize that some equipment 
> will never work. (For example, I never did get the Conexant "modem" to 
> work on the Dell Inspiron 1200. But when something as basic as 
> removable-media mounting first works, and then doesn't work, on any 
> given machine, that will surely frustrate anyone contemplating a move to 
> Linux.
> 
> Temlakos
> 

Great. Now after I sent this around, I experimented some more. First I
connected a USB CF card reader with a digital photo on it. It mounted,
and started the photo-import program. Then I tried again with my audio
and video disks--and /now/ they will mount and play as I set them up to do.

So why didn't they mount the first time?

Did it just take connecting a USB filesystem and having that mount, to
get the kernel used to finding removable media and mounting it?

Weird. And I hope such weirdness can go away as Linux development moves
forward.

Temlakos