Alright, so I believe it all started when I attempted to setup K3b (which never really worked for me and has since been unintstalled). I know that it messed with the fstab stuff. So after trying to set that up I noticed problems with grip, xcdroast and xmms. Kscd and other cd players seem to have no problem and I can navigate through data cds or install rpms from cds with no problem. Xmms doesn't seem to see the drive or file system, and grip has since started working again (go figure...). Point is that it worked fine before. I only have this problem with audio cds.

The problem is this: Any time xcdroast performs an action that should read from the cd it just freezes. If i switch desktops it doesn't redraw. xkill and xload don't report any processor usage by xcdroast and the drive light doesn't light up. It freezes until I press the drives cd eject button. Then, in some instances, it has the information it needed (track numbers, times, etc.). It doesn't do any kind of long term reading.

Some events that trigger these temporary lock-ups are:

• opening the "CD/Image Info" dialog
• pressing the "Update" button in the "CD/Image Info", "Verify CD" and "Read CD" dialogs
• pressing the "Read all tracks" button in the "Read CD" dialog
• if eject button is pressed after "Read all tracks" it says "Initializing CD-Reader..." and then freezes. Has to be cancelled.

Any freezes caused by these events are alieviated by pressing the CD eject button, but as a result the prolonged read process is stopped. Net result: cant rip or dupe audio cds -> friends band angry.

Also, I don't know if this is related, but trying to enter the /mnt directory in konqueror takes ages.
I'm using Mandrake 9.1 on an x68. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

michael