I think the problem is connected with the audio CD detection.
Control Center -> Sound and Multimedia -> Audio CD
Deselect Find device automatically (or something like this)
Sorry, I'm at work now and here I don't have KDE.

Hmm, i had a very similar problem, only that the time interval was every 1 or 2 seconds, instead of 10... and it happened both inside X, and in the console...

I still don't know what the problem is, but it happens only when i disable Hotplug hardware detection (which i dont see enabled in your dmesg output). When its enabled again, everything is back to normal.

Well, the problem is still occurring. I will attempt enableing the hotplug hardware detection. The only problem is that I do not know the proper way to enable it. Could anyone give me some advice on how to do this? I am unfortunately not at my rig right now and will have ton try this when I get off work.

Well we are on the topic of troubleshooting, maybe someone can help me in locating the different log files that I may want to review in order to find possible errors. Not necissarily errors related to this issue but also others as well.

Thank you Xushi and DJ B.A. for your replies and iseas. I will attempt this when I get home.

chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.hotplug
if its not there, easiest way to get it back is just reinstall hotplug (download from slackware's pb)

as for logs, they're in /var/log

I tried this and it seemed to solve the problem, although I did stop using KDE sortly thereafter and have adopted fluxbox as my WM which I like more. Since switching over I have not had that problem. In fact since I ran the commands that xushi suggested I did not have the system hang.

Thank you all so much for your help. This forum ROCKS!