I have a Via-P VT6205 usb multicard cardreader, computer is running Lenny. According to Via this device is supported in linux kernel 2.4.2 and later. I see 4 icons for the 4 chips it handles in the computer window menu. Lsusb shows it and dmesg shows it, Device manager in control panel shows it, I see nothing that looks like an error message.

First problem encountered was "unable to mount media, probably no media in drive" message. I installed pcscd package and then I could mount a compacflash card. It worked once with an SD card but not twice. I installed hal package, pmount package, gnome_device_manager and still, the cardreader will not show an SD chip.

The system during boot will test the SD chip during memtest when I forget and leave it in drive, when this happens the 4 icons in computer menu window will not be present after boot. Removing the SD chip and re-booting will bring the icons back.

Can somebody help with this?

Plug the card into the multicard thing and then plug that into the USB port, once you have your linux desktop running.

Always worked for me

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Not very easy as I have to open the case, cable is hard to get at. Unplugging & replugging just made the icons go away. They didn't come back. Hopefully this isn't permanent.

Icons are back after reboot. Tredegar, your theory doesn't work. Got another?

Is this a distro where you "rolled your own"?
Different releases manage these things differently : hal, hotplug, udev rules etc.

I am currently using kubuntu 8.04. If I boot with a USB disk plugged in, there's no icon on the desktop, but it is mounted. If I plug it in after booting, I am asked what I want to do with it, an if I choose to mount it, an icon appears on the desktop.

Just using Lenny gnome, nothing special. If I boot with an SD chip installed, the memory test at hardware initialization tests the chip as if it's part of system memory. It's takes a long time for a 16Gb chip to test, real long time. And after that the cardreader disappears from the menu's.

Then it looks like "Lenny" is broken somehow.

SD cards should be seen as HDDs, but your distro is apparently seeing it as "memory".

It's not a distro I am familiar with, so maybe try posting to a "Lenny" forum?