Hi everyone - I am definitely a NOOB to Ubuntu; up until last week my Unix knowledge consisted of ls -l and executing shell commands, and minor script edits. My goal was to install 11.10 on an HP laptop, then install Oracle XE. I got as far as installing Ubuntu via a USB drive, then running the current patches/updates. Found the internet and networked printer OK.
When I go to access the cd drive though, it spins then stops. I've been through many 'close' solutions over the past week. maybe I'm just too new at this to recognize the answer but everything seems to be circular so far.
When I run sbin/lspci it returns no such file or directory. There is no lspci file in my sbin directory.
Next I tried
root@ubuntu-HP:/# wodim --devices
wodim: Overview of accessible drives (1 found) :
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 dev='/dev/sg0' rwrw-- : 'Slimtype' 'DVD A DS8A1H'
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's there and contains a playable music CD. My understanding is that sg0 is saying it's a SCSI drive though; not sure if that's part of the confusion?
Playing monkey-see monkey-do I created a /media/cdrom directory and tried the following:
root@ubuntu-HP:/# mount /dev/cdrom /media/cdrom
mount: no medium found on /dev/sr0
root@ubuntu-HP:/# mount /cdrom /media/cdrom
mount: /cdrom is not a block device
root@ubuntu-HP:/# mount -t iso9660 /dev/sg0 /media/cdrom
mount: /dev/sg0 is not a block devicmount -t iso9660 /dev/sg0 /media/cdrome

Next? Maybe I should roll-back to 11.04 and start over?

post output of
Also when you put dcd in drive does it show on desktop or can you see it using file manager?

# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc nodev,noexec,nosuid 0 0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=f0618420-455e-4d01-9506-e3a24701d58e / ext4 errors=remount-ro 0 1
# swap was on /dev/sda5 during installation
UUID=2cd9e11c-7f2f-4490-a490-c1521e6e590a none swap sw 0 0
/home/swapfile swap swap defaults 0 0
davea@ubuntu-HP:~$

If I load a DVD or CD the drive cycles several times, spins up, then shuts itself down.

and I can't see if from File Manager, etc. The USB will show up if I plug that in though.

Music CD's can't be mounted. You play them with a media player.
If you want to mount a CD it has to have a file system on it. A data CD.

Are you sure that your drive isn't /dev/sr0? It found the device but says there is no media in it, which is what you get when trying to mount a music CD.

What happens when you click on the usb device?
What does dmesg say?
post output of

When I plug in a USB device the Home folder opens and displays the contents. Is there a way to capture all of the DMESG output? This is what I could copy from Terminal:
[ 0.741926] pnp 00:01: [mem 0x000e4000-0x000e7fff window]
[ 0.741929] pnp 00:01: [mem 0x000e8000-0x000ebfff window]
[ 0.741932] pnp 00:01: [mem 0x000ec000-0x000effff window]
[ 0.741936] pnp 00:01: [mem 0x000f0000-0x000fffff window]
[ 0.741939] pnp 00:01: [mem 0x40000000-0xfebfffff window]
[ 0.742018] pnp 00:01: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0a08 PNP0a03 (active)
[ 0.742190] pnp 00:02: [irq 0 disabled]
[ 0.742207] pnp 00:02: [irq 8]
[ 0.742210] pnp 00:02: [mem 0xfed00000-0xfed003ff]
[ 0.742249] pnp 00:02: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0103 (active)
[ 0.742270] pnp 00:03: [mem 0xe0000000-0xefffffff]
[ 0.742334] system 00:03: [mem 0xe0000000-0xefffffff] has been reserved
[ 0.742339] system 00:03: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c02 (active)
[ 0.744921] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0010-0x001f]
[ 0.744924] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0022-0x003f]
[ 0.744927] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0044-0x005f]
[ 0.744930] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0063]
[ 0.744932] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0065]
[ 0.744935] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0067-0x006f]
[ 0.744938] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0072-0x0073]
[ 0.744941] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0074-0x007f]
[ 0.744943] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0080]
[ 0.744946] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0091-0x0093]
[ 0.744949] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0097-0x009f]
[ 0.744952] pnp 00:04: [io 0x00a2-0x00bf]
[ 0.744957] pnp 00:04: [io 0x00e0-0x00ef]
[ 0.744961] pnp 00:04: [io 0x0360-0x0361]
[ 0.744963] pnp 00:04: [io 0x04d0-0x04d1]
[ 0.745080] system 00:04: [io 0x0360-0x0361] has been reserved
[ 0.745084] system 00:04: [io 0x04d0-0x04d1] has been reserved
[ 0.745089] system 00:04: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c02 (active)
[ 0.745106] pnp 00:05: [io 0x0000-0x0008]
[ 0.745109] pnp 00:05: [io 0x000a-0x000f]
[ 0.745112] pnp 00:05: [io 0x0081-0x0083]
[ 0.745114] pnp 00:05: [io 0x0087]
[ 0.745117] pnp 00:05: [io 0x0089-0x008b]
[ 0.745120] pnp 00:05: [io 0x008f]
[ 0.745122] pnp 00:05: [io 0x00c0-0x00d1]
[ 0.745125] pnp 00:05: [io 0x00d4-0x00df]
[ 0.745129] pnp 00:05: [dma 4]
[ 0.745172] pnp 00:05: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0200 (active)
[ 0.745182] pnp 00:06: [io 0x0061]
[ 0.745223] pnp 00:06: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0800 (active)
[ 0.745252] pnp 00:07: [io 0x0070-0x0071]
[ 0.745295] pnp 00:07: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0b00 (active)
[ 0.745307] pnp 00:08: [io 0x00f0-0x00f1]
[ 0.745324] pnp 00:08: [irq 13]
[ 0.745372] pnp 00:08: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c04 (active)
[ 0.745384] pnp 00:09: [io 0x0060]
[ 0.745387] pnp 00:09: [io 0x0064]
[ 0.745396] pnp 00:09: [irq 1]
[ 0.745446] pnp 00:09: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0303 (active)
[ 0.745464] pnp 00:0a: [irq 12]
[ 0.745515] pnp 00:0a: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs AUI1500 SYN0300 SYN0002 PNP0f13 (active)
[ 0.745702] pnp 00:0b: [io 0x1000-0x107f]
[ 0.745705] pnp 00:0b: [io 0x1080-0x10ff]
[ 0.745708] pnp 00:0b: [io 0x1400-0x147f]
[ 0.745711] pnp 00:0b: [io 0x1480-0x14ff]
[ 0.745714] pnp 00:0b: [io 0x1800-0x187f]
[ 0.745717] pnp 00:0b: [io 0x1880-0x18ff]
[ 0.745791] system 00:0b: [io 0x1000-0x107f] has been reserved
[ 0.745795] system 00:0b: [io 0x1080-0x10ff] has been reserved
[ 0.745798] system 00:0b: [io 0x1400-0x147f] has been reserved
[ 0.745802] system 00:0b: [io 0x1480-0x14ff] has been reserved
[ 0.745805] system 00:0b: [io 0x1800-0x187f] has been reserved
[ 0.745809] system 00:0b: [io 0x1880-0x18ff] has been reserved
[ 0.745813] system 00:0b: Plug and Play ACPI device, IDs PNP0c02 (active)
[ 0.746084] pnp: PnP ACPI: found 12 devices
[ 0.746086] ACPI: ACPI bus type pnp unregistered
[ 0.746090] PnPBIOS: Disabled by ACPI PNP
[ 0.782720] PCI: max bus depth: 1 pci_try_num: 2
[ 0.782745] pci 0000:00:12.0: BAR 6: assigned [mem 0x40000000-0x4001ffff pref]
[ 0.782750] pci 0000:00:08.0: PCI bridge to [bus 01-02]
[ 0.782753] pci 0000:00:08.0: bridge window [io disabled]
[ 0.782758] pci 0000:00:08.0: bridge window [mem 0xfc100000-0xfc1fffff]
[ 0.782761] pci 0000:00:08.0: bridge window [mem pref disabled]
[ 0.782767] pci 0000:00:0c.0: PCI bridge to [bus 06-07]
[ 0.782770] pci 0000:00:0c.0: bridge window [io 0x4000-0x4fff]
[ 0.782774] pci 0000:00:0c.0: bridge window [mem 0xf8000000-0xfbffffff]
[ 0.782777] pci 0000:00:0c.0: bridge window [mem pref disabled]
[ 0.782782] pci 0000:00:0d.0: PCI bridge to [bus 04-05]
[ 0.782785] pci 0000:00:0d.0: bridge window [io disabled]
[ 0.782789] pci 0000:00:0d.0: bridge window [mem 0xfc000000-0xfc0fffff]
[ 0.782792] pci 0000:00:0d.0: bridge window [mem pref disabled]
[ 0.782802] pci 0000:00:08.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 0.782808] pci 0000:00:0c.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 0.782813] pci 0000:00:0d.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 0.782817] pci_bus 0000:00: resource 4 [io 0x0000-0xffff]
[ 0.782821] pci_bus 0000:00: resource 5 [mem 0x000a0000-0x000bffff]
[ 0.782824] pci_bus 0000:00: resource 6 [mem 0x40000000-0xffffffff]
[ 0.782827] pci_bus 0000:01: resource 1 [mem 0xfc100000-0xfc1fffff]
[ 0.782831] pci_bus 0000:01: resource 4 [io 0x0000-0xffff]
[ 0.782834] pci_bus 0000:01: resource 5 [mem 0x000a0000-0x000bffff]
[ 0.782837] pci_bus 0000:01: resource 6 [mem 0x40000000-0xffffffff]
[ 0.782841] pci_bus 0000:06: resource 0 [io 0x4000-0x4fff]
[ 0.782844] pci_bus 0000:06: resource 1 [mem 0xf8000000-0xfbffffff]
[ 0.782847] pci_bus 0000:04: resource 1 [mem 0xfc000000-0xfc0fffff]
[ 0.782899] NET: Registered protocol family 2
[ 0.782979] IP route cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
[ 0.783334] TCP established hash table entries: 131072 (order: 8, 1048576 bytes)
[ 0.784218] TCP bind hash table entries: 65536 (order: 7, 524288 bytes)
[ 0.784657] TCP: Hash tables configured (established 131072 bind 65536)
[ 0.784660] TCP reno registered
[ 0.784665] UDP hash table entries: 512 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[ 0.784680] UDP-Lite hash table entries: 512 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
[ 0.784810] NET: Registered protocol family 1
[ 0.896096] pci 0000:00:00.0: Found enabled HT MSI Mapping
[ 0.896151] pci 0000:00:00.0: Found enabled HT MSI Mapping
[ 0.896212] pci 0000:00:00.0: Found enabled HT MSI Mapping
[ 0.896278] pci 0000:00:00.0: Found enabled HT MSI Mapping
[ 0.896348] pci 0000:00:00.0: Found enabled HT MSI Mapping
[ 0.896423] pci 0000:00:00.0: Found enabled HT MSI Mapping
[ 0.896431] pci 0000:00:12.0: Boot video device
[ 0.896455] PCI: CLS 64 bytes, default 64
[ 0.896463] Simple Boot Flag at 0x36 set to 0x1
[ 0.896887] audit: initializing netlink socket (disabled)
[ 0.896898] type=2000 audit(1324631650.892:1): initialized
[ 0.925391] highmem bounce pool size: 64 pages
[ 0.925398] HugeTLB registered 4 MB page size, pre-allocated 0 pages
[ 0.933768] VFS: Disk quotas dquot_6.5.2
[ 0.933853] Dquot-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
[ 0.934764] fuse init (API version 7.16)
[ 0.934887] msgmni has been set to 1732
[ 0.935446] Block layer SCSI generic (bsg) driver version 0.4 loaded (major 253)
[ 0.935495] io scheduler noop registered
[ 0.935500] io scheduler deadline registered
[ 0.935527] io scheduler cfq registered (default)
[ 0.935695] pcieport 0000:00:0c.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 0.935727] pcieport 0000:00:0c.0: irq 40 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 0.935776] pcieport 0000:00:0d.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 0.935798] pcieport 0000:00:0d.0: irq 41 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 0.935881] pci_hotplug: PCI Hot Plug PCI Core version: 0.5
[ 0.935917] pciehp: PCI Express Hot Plug Controller Driver version: 0.4
[ 0.937255] ACPI: Deprecated procfs I/F for AC is loaded, please retry with CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS_POWER cleared
[ 0.938433] ACPI: AC Adapter [ADP1] (on-line)
[ 0.938519] input: Lid Switch as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0C0D:00/input/input0
[ 0.940087] ACPI: Lid Switch [LID0]
[ 0.940136] input: Sleep Button as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0C0E:00/input/input1
[ 0.940142] ACPI: Sleep Button [SLPB]
[ 0.940193] input: Power Button as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0C0C:00/input/input2
[ 0.940197] ACPI: Power Button [PWRB]
[ 0.940258] input: Power Button as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXPWRBN:00/input/input3
[ 0.940262] ACPI: Power Button [PWRF]
[ 0.940298] ACPI: acpi_idle registered with cpuidle
[ 0.940321] ACPI: processor limited to max C-state 1
[ 0.960825] thermal LNXTHERM:00: registered as thermal_zone0
[ 0.960828] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZS0] (42 C)
[ 0.965693] thermal LNXTHERM:01: registered as thermal_zone1
[ 0.965695] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZS1] (45 C)
[ 0.965722] ACPI: Deprecated procfs I/F for battery is loaded, please retry with CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS_POWER cleared
[ 0.965748] ERST: Table is not found!
[ 0.965887] isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
[ 0.965906] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 32 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
[ 1.021923] ACPI: Battery Slot [BAT0] (battery present)
[ 1.318547] isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
[ 1.326082] Linux agpgart interface v0.103
[ 1.327985] brd: module loaded
[ 1.328779] loop: module loaded
[ 1.329068] pata_acpi 0000:00:06.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.329400] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LSI0] enabled at IRQ 23
[ 1.329422] pata_acpi 0000:00:09.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LSI0] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23
[ 1.329441] pata_acpi 0000:00:09.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.329450] pata_acpi 0000:00:09.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 1.329962] Fixed MDIO Bus: probed
[ 1.329998] PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
[ 1.330066] tun: Universal TUN/TAP device driver, 1.6
[ 1.330069] tun: (C) 1999-2004 Max Krasnyansky <maxk@qualcomm.com>
[ 1.330188] ehci_hcd: USB 2.0 'Enhanced' Host Controller (EHCI) Driver
[ 1.330452] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LUS2] enabled at IRQ 17
[ 1.330466] ehci_hcd 0000:00:02.1: PCI INT B -> Link[LUS2] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[ 1.330485] ehci_hcd 0000:00:02.1: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.330489] ehci_hcd 0000:00:02.1: EHCI Host Controller
[ 1.330537] ehci_hcd 0000:00:02.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
[ 1.330568] ehci_hcd 0000:00:02.1: debug port 1
[ 1.330577] ehci_hcd 0000:00:02.1: cache line size of 64 is not supported
[ 1.330607] ehci_hcd 0000:00:02.1: irq 17, io mem 0xfc489000
[ 1.340032] ehci_hcd 0000:00:02.1: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[ 1.340189] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 1.340195] hub 1-0:1.0: 5 ports detected
[ 1.340538] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [Z014] enabled at IRQ 16
[ 1.340553] ehci_hcd 0000:00:04.1: PCI INT B -> Link[Z014] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[ 1.340564] ehci_hcd 0000:00:04.1: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.340567] ehci_hcd 0000:00:04.1: EHCI Host Controller
[ 1.340612] ehci_hcd 0000:00:04.1: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
[ 1.340636] ehci_hcd 0000:00:04.1: debug port 1
[ 1.340644] ehci_hcd 0000:00:04.1: cache line size of 64 is not supported
[ 1.340666] ehci_hcd 0000:00:04.1: irq 16, io mem 0xfc489400
[ 1.352027] ehci_hcd 0000:00:04.1: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[ 1.352164] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 1.352169] hub 2-0:1.0: 5 ports detected
[ 1.352279] ohci_hcd: USB 1.1 'Open' Host Controller (OHCI) Driver
[ 1.352548] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LUS0] enabled at IRQ 17
[ 1.352553] ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LUS0] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[ 1.352564] ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.352568] ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.0: OHCI Host Controller
[ 1.352615] ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 3
[ 1.352630] ohci_hcd 0000:00:02.0: irq 17, io mem 0xfc486000
[ 1.410138] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 1.410145] hub 3-0:1.0: 5 ports detected
[ 1.410482] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [Z013] enabled at IRQ 16
[ 1.410487] ohci_hcd 0000:00:04.0: PCI INT A -> Link[Z013] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[ 1.410497] ohci_hcd 0000:00:04.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.410501] ohci_hcd 0000:00:04.0: OHCI Host Controller
[ 1.410550] ohci_hcd 0000:00:04.0: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 4
[ 1.410565] ohci_hcd 0000:00:04.0: irq 16, io mem 0xfc487000
[ 1.466141] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 1.466147] hub 4-0:1.0: 5 ports detected
[ 1.466233] uhci_hcd: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver
[ 1.466355] i8042: PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:KBD0,PNP0f13:PS2M] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1,12
[ 1.480383] i8042: Detected active multiplexing controller, rev 1.1
[ 1.491347] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
[ 1.491355] serio: i8042 AUX0 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[ 1.491390] serio: i8042 AUX1 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[ 1.491420] serio: i8042 AUX2 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[ 1.491454] serio: i8042 AUX3 port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[ 1.491593] mousedev: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
[ 1.492294] rtc_cmos 00:07: RTC can wake from S4
[ 1.492431] rtc_cmos 00:07: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0
[ 1.492471] rtc0: alarms up to one year, y3k, 114 bytes nvram, hpet irqs
[ 1.492591] device-mapper: uevent: version 1.0.3
[ 1.492693] device-mapper: ioctl: 4.20.0-ioctl (2011-02-02) initialised: dm-devel@redhat.com
[ 1.492735] EISA: Probing bus 0 at eisa.0
[ 1.492739] EISA: Cannot allocate resource for mainboard
[ 1.492743] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 1
[ 1.492746] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 2
[ 1.492749] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 3
[ 1.492752] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 4
[ 1.492754] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 5
[ 1.492757] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 6
[ 1.492760] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 7
[ 1.492763] Cannot allocate resource for EISA slot 8
[ 1.492765] EISA: Detected 0 cards.
[ 1.492779] cpufreq-nforce2: No nForce2 chipset.
[ 1.492782] cpuidle: using governor ladder
[ 1.492784] cpuidle: using governor menu
[ 1.492787] EFI Variables Facility v0.08 2004-May-17
[ 1.493149] TCP cubic registered
[ 1.493327] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[ 1.494065] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[ 1.494086] Registering the dns_resolver key type
[ 1.494117] Using IPI No-Shortcut mode
[ 1.494220] PM: Hibernation image not present or could not be loaded.
[ 1.494235] registered taskstats version 1
[ 1.506258] Magic number: 7:885:222
[ 1.506391] rtc_cmos 00:07: setting system clock to 2011-12-23 09:14:12 UTC (1324631652)
[ 1.506401] powernow-k8: Found 1 AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 TL-58 (2 cpu cores) (version 2.20.00)
[ 1.506469] powernow-k8: fid 0xb (1900 MHz), vid 0x13
[ 1.506472] powernow-k8: fid 0xa (1800 MHz), vid 0x14
[ 1.506474] powernow-k8: fid 0x8 (1600 MHz), vid 0x15
[ 1.506477] powernow-k8: fid 0x0 (800 MHz), vid 0x1e
[ 1.506561] BIOS EDD facility v0.16 2004-Jun-25, 0 devices found
[ 1.506565] EDD information not available.
[ 1.506730] Freeing unused kernel memory: 696k freed
[ 1.507214] Write protecting the kernel text: 5336k
[ 1.507266] Write protecting the kernel read-only data: 2192k
[ 1.514011] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input4
[ 1.530813] udevd[82]: starting version 173
[ 1.652061] usb 1-4: new high speed USB device number 2 using ehci_hcd
[ 1.663583] pata_amd 0000:00:06.0: version 0.4.1
[ 1.663644] pata_amd 0000:00:06.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.682830] scsi0 : pata_amd
[ 1.683109] scsi1 : pata_amd
[ 1.683600] ata1: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x1f0 ctl 0x3f6 bmdma 0x30c0 irq 14
[ 1.683604] ata2: PATA max UDMA/133 cmd 0x170 ctl 0x376 bmdma 0x30c8 irq 15
[ 1.683775] ahci 0000:00:09.0: version 3.0
[ 1.683792] ahci 0000:00:09.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LSI0] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23
[ 1.683824] ahci 0000:00:09.0: controller can do NCQ, turning on CAP_NCQ
[ 1.683827] ahci 0000:00:09.0: controller can't do PMP, turning off CAP_PMP
[ 1.683897] ahci 0000:00:09.0: AHCI 0001.0100 32 slots 4 ports 3 Gbps 0xf impl IDE mode
[ 1.683902] ahci 0000:00:09.0: flags: 64bit ncq sntf led clo pio
[ 1.683908] ahci 0000:00:09.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.686726] scsi2 : ahci
[ 1.690227] scsi3 : ahci
[ 1.692428] scsi4 : ahci
[ 1.694091] scsi5 : ahci
[ 1.694266] ata3: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m8192@0xfc484000 port 0xfc484100 irq 23
[ 1.694269] ata4: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m8192@0xfc484000 port 0xfc484180 irq 23
[ 1.694273] ata5: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m8192@0xfc484000 port 0xfc484200 irq 23
[ 1.694276] ata6: SATA max UDMA/133 abar m8192@0xfc484000 port 0xfc484280 irq 23
[ 1.696296] forcedeth: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver. Version 0.64.
[ 1.696568] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LMAC] enabled at IRQ 22
[ 1.696592] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LMAC] -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 22
[ 1.696598] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.700694] sdhci: Secure Digital Host Controller Interface driver
[ 1.700698] sdhci: Copyright(c) Pierre Ossman
[ 1.868315] ata1.00: ATAPI: Slimtype DVD A DS8A1H, WH66, max MWDMA2
[ 1.868327] ata1: nv_mode_filter: 0x39f&0x739f->0x39f, BIOS=0x0 (0xc600) ACPI=0x39f (120:600:0x12)
[ 1.908251] ata1.00: configured for MWDMA2
[ 1.912121] scsi 0:0:0:0: CD-ROM Slimtype DVD A DS8A1H WH66 PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[ 1.917693] sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 24x/24x writer dvd-ram cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
[ 1.917696] cdrom: Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
[ 1.917862] sr 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0
[ 1.917955] sr 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 5
[ 1.918158] ata2: port disabled. ignoring.
[ 2.016033] ata4: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
[ 2.016051] ata5: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
[ 2.016069] ata3: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
[ 2.016623] ata3.00: ATA-7: FUJITSU MHW2160BH PL, 891F, max UDMA/100
[ 2.016627] ata3.00: 312581808 sectors, multi 16: LBA48
[ 2.017345] ata3.00: configured for UDMA/100
[ 2.017470] scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access ATA FUJITSU MHW2160B 891F PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[ 2.017689] sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
[ 2.017695] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] 312581808 512-byte logical blocks: (160 GB/149 GiB)
[ 2.017768] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[ 2.017772] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[ 2.017810] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 2.020036] ata6: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
[ 2.084328] sda: sda1 sda2 < sda5 >
[ 2.084737] sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[ 2.087316] sdhci-pci 0000:01:09.1: SDHCI controller found [1180:0822] (rev 22)
[ 2.087548] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNK2] enabled at IRQ 10
[ 2.087566] sdhci-pci 0000:01:09.1: PCI INT B -> Link[LNK2] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
[ 2.088600] sdhci-pci 0000:01:09.1: Will use DMA mode even though HW doesn't fully claim to support it.
[ 2.088627] mmc0: no vmmc regulator found
[ 2.089666] Registered led device: mmc0::
[ 2.090714] mmc0: SDHCI controller on PCI [0000:01:09.1] using DMA
[ 2.092179] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNK1] enabled at IRQ 11
[ 2.092198] firewire_ohci 0000:01:09.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNK1] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
[ 2.150190] firewire_ohci: Added fw-ohci device 0000:01:09.0, OHCI v1.10, 4 IR + 4 IT contexts, quirks 0x1
[ 2.224894] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: ifname eth0, PHY OUI 0x5043 @ 1, addr 00:16:d3:f2:73:e9
[ 2.224901] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: highdma pwrctl mgmt lnktim msi desc-v3
[ 2.381458] EXT4-fs (sda1): INFO: recovery required on readonly filesystem
[ 2.381464] EXT4-fs (sda1): write access will be enabled during recovery
[ 2.430131] EXT4-fs (sda1): recovery complete
[ 2.430632] EXT4-fs (sda1): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode. Opts: (null)
[ 2.652155] firewire_core: created device fw0: GUID 07e40a002b815037, S400
[ 17.200620] udevd[336]: starting version 173
[ 17.267897] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
[ 17.314260] Adding 979964k swap on /dev/sda5. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:979964k
[ 17.766173] EXT4-fs (sda1): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro
[ 17.778011] acpi device:20: registered as cooling_device2
[ 17.778190] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/LNXVIDEO:00/input/input5
[ 17.778315] ACPI: Video Device [VGA] (multi-head: yes rom: no post: no)
[ 17.811962] i2c i2c-0: nForce2 SMBus adapter at 0x3040
[ 17.813187] i2c i2c-1: nForce2 SMBus adapter at 0x3000
[ 17.813966] wmi: Mapper loaded
[ 17.879864] k8temp 0000:00:18.3: Temperature readouts might be wrong - check erratum #141
[ 17.882495] lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
[ 17.882501] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
[ 17.892266] type=1400 audit(1324649668.882:2): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/sbin/dhclient" pid=583 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 17.892811] type=1400 audit(1324649668.882:3): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action" pid=583 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 17.893841] type=1400 audit(1324649668.882:4): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script" pid=583 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 17.911680] r592 0000:01:09.2: PCI INT B -> Link[LNK2] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
[ 17.913202] r592: driver successfully loaded
[ 17.913640] r852 0000:01:09.3: PCI INT B -> Link[LNK2] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
[ 17.913729] r852: driver loaded successfully
[ 17.930428] wl: module license 'MIXED/Proprietary' taints kernel.
[ 17.930436] Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint
[ 18.015860] Adding 1048572k swap on /home/swapfile. Priority:-2 extents:7 across:3645436k
[ 18.041866] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LK4E] enabled at IRQ 21
[ 18.041890] wl 0000:04:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LK4E] -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 21
[ 18.041897] wl 0000:04:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 18.048573] malloc in abgphy done
[ 18.052663] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'TKIP'
[ 18.195107] eth1: Broadcom BCM4311 802.11 Hybrid Wireless Controller 5.100.82.38
[ 18.827297] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[ 18.829190] input: HP WMI hotkeys as /devices/virtual/input/input6
[ 18.866973] uvcvideo: Found UVC 1.00 device HP Webcam (04f2:b016)
[ 18.882836] input: HP Webcam as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.1/usb1/1-4/1-4:1.0/input/input7
[ 18.884258] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo
[ 18.884262] USB Video Class driver (v1.1.0)
[ 18.913173] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LAZA] enabled at IRQ 20
[ 18.913196] HDA Intel 0000:00:07.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LAZA] -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
[ 18.913201] hda_intel: Disabling MSI
[ 18.913247] HDA Intel 0000:00:07.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 19.458907] init: failsafe main process (754) killed by TERM signal
[ 19.537583] type=1400 audit(1324649670.526:5): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/sbin/dhclient" pid=829 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 19.546598] type=1400 audit(1324649670.534:6): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-guest-session-wrapper" pid=828 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 19.550521] type=1400 audit(1324649670.538:7): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action" pid=829 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 19.550856] type=1400 audit(1324649670.538:8): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" name="/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script" pid=829 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 19.606355] type=1400 audit(1324649670.594:9): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/telepathy/mission-control-5" pid=834 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 19.626234] type=1400 audit(1324649670.614:10): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/lib/telepathy/telepathy-*" pid=834 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 19.631993] type=1400 audit(1324649670.618:11): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" name="/usr/bin/evince" pid=830 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 19.670454] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: irq 42 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 19.670661] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: eth0: no link during initialization
[ 19.671341] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[ 19.924708] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LGPU] enabled at IRQ 19
[ 19.924733] nvidia 0000:00:12.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LGPU] -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
[ 19.924742] nvidia 0000:00:12.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 19.924748] vgaarb: device changed decodes: PCI:0000:00:12.0,olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=nonewns=io+mem
[ 19.925751] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86 Kernel Module 280.13 Wed Jul 27 16:55:43 PDT 2011
[ 19.974228] init: apport pre-start process (882) terminated with status 1
[ 19.996597] init: apport post-stop process (909) terminated with status 1
[ 20.195341] init: udev-fallback-graphics main process (926) terminated with status 1
[ 20.216650] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
[ 20.305526] input: PS/2 Mouse as /devices/platform/i8042/serio2/input/input8
[ 20.328402] input: AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint as /devices/platform/i8042/serio2/input/input9
[ 20.365859] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.16
[ 20.365898] NET: Registered protocol family 31
[ 20.365900] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[ 20.365905] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[ 20.365908] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[ 20.366352] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[ 20.370267] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
[ 20.370285] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
[ 20.370287] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
[ 20.415103] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[ 20.415110] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[ 26.382411] EXT4-fs (sda1): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro,commit=0
[ 26.972530] init: plymouth-stop pre-start process (1308) terminated with status 1
[ 31.616053] eth1: no IPv6 routers present
[ 51.648024] eth1: no IPv6 routers present
[ 154.100017] CE: hpet increased min_delta_ns to 11520 nsec
[84136.664077] usb 1-5: new high speed USB device number 3 using ehci_hcd
[84137.985650] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
[84137.999142] Initializing USB Mass Storage driver...
[84137.999626] scsi6 : usb-storage 1-5:1.0
[84138.001027] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[84138.001034] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[84139.002051] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access PNY USB 2.0 FD 8.02 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
[84139.002265] scsi: killing requests for dead queue
[84139.005356] scsi: killing requests for dead queue
[84139.012266] scsi: killing requests for dead queue
[84139.012476] scsi: killing requests for dead queue
[84139.020221] scsi: killing requests for dead queue
[84139.025924] scsi: killing requests for dead queue
[84139.026133] scsi: killing requests for dead queue
[84139.028485] scsi: killing requests for dead queue
[84139.029247] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[84139.031758] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] 7856127 512-byte logical blocks: (4.02 GB/3.74 GiB)
[84139.033876] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[84139.033887] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 45 00 00 08
[84139.034893] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page present
[84139.034903] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[84139.038855] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page present
[84139.038865] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[84139.040629] sdb: sdb1
[84139.043852] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] No Caching mode page present
[84139.043860] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[84139.043867] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk

Not sure if this helps but I ran these:
davea@ubuntu-HP:~$ wodim ?
wodim: No write mode specified.
wodim: Assuming -tao mode.
wodim: Future versions of wodim may have different drive dependent defaults.
wodim: Operation not permitted. Warning: Cannot raise RLIMIT_MEMLOCK limits.
Device was not specified. Trying to find an appropriate drive...
Detected CD-R drive: /dev/cdrw
Using /dev/cdrom of unknown capabilities
Device type : Removable CD-ROM
Version : 5
Response Format: 2
Capabilities :
Vendor_info : 'Slimtype'
Identification : 'DVD A DS8A1H '
Revision : 'WH66'
Device seems to be: Generic mmc2 DVD-R/DVD-RW.
Using generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-R/CD-RW driver (mmc_cdr).
Driver flags : MMC-3 SWABAUDIO BURNFREE FORCESPEED
Supported modes: TAO PACKET SAO SAO/R96P SAO/R96R RAW/R16 RAW/R96P RAW/R96R

Then I retried mounting from cdrw:
davea@ubuntu-HP:~$ sudo mount /dev/cdrw /media/cdrom
mount: no medium found on /dev/sr0

The device is definately being recognized
Is your user part of the Audio, cdrom & plug devices in /etc/group?

I'm a member of cdrom, but not audio. What do I need to add myself to, and how?

davea@ubuntu-HP:/etc$ cat group |more
root:x:0:
daemon:x:1:
bin:x:2:
sys:x:3:
adm:x:4:davea
tty:x:5:
disk:x:6:
lp:x:7:
mail:x:8:
news:x:9:
uucp:x:10:
man:x:12:
proxy:x:13:
kmem:x:15:
dialout:x:20:davea
fax:x:21:
voice:x:22:
cdrom:x:24:davea
floppy:x:25:
tape:x:26:
sudo:x:27:
audio:x:29ulse
dip:x:30:
www-data:x:33:
backup:x:34:
operator:x:37:
list:x:38:
irc:x:39:
src:x:40:
gnats:x:41:
shadow:x:42:
utmp:x:43:
video:x:44:
sasl:x:45:
plugdev:x:46:davea
staff:x:50:
games:x:60:
users:x:100:
nogroup:x:65534:
libuuid:x:101:
crontab:x:102:
syslog:x:103:
fuse:x:104:
colord:x:105:
scanner:x:106:colord
messagebus:x:107:
lightdm:x:108:
nopasswdlogin:x:109:
mlocate:x:110:
ssh:x:111:
avahi-autoipd:x:112:
avahi:x:113:
netdev:x:114:
bluetooth:x:115:
lpadmin:x:116:davea
ssl-cert:x:117:
admin:x:118:davea
pulse:x:119:
pulse-access:x:120:
utempter:x:121:
rtkit:x:122:
saned:x:123:
davea:x:1000:
sambashare:x:124:davea

You can either use the gui version under System Administration>>Users & Group
or add yourself to Audio group under /etc/group which has to be done with text editor
nano & gedit are installed in debian
Also you may need to install multimedia codecs.
Usbmount is a program to automatically mount usb devices & available in synaptic

Thanks Eddy1. I think there's too many variables here. Your reference to 'System Administration' doesn't exist in 11.10, which apparently has a whole new interface (something about Gnome2 to Gnome3, and takes away a lot of standard user interfaces), and is apparently a source of frustration to users much more savvy than myself.

With much appreciation for your persistence over the holidays, I'm going to start over with version 10 to get on more common ground with the rest of the Ubuntu community and see how things go from there.

If it's gnome three it's under applications>>all.
Although there's a difference between gnome 2 & gnome 3,it gets easier after a while of using it. Also gnome 2 is going to be phased out in the future.