Comment 10 for bug 16170

I did some more work on tracking this down, as the Ubuntu Live CD does not
display the HAL initialization error. In fact, I completely re-installed the
whole system from scratch, and made notes as I went, and tested continuously to
determine the cause of the problem.

It turns out that I can make the error come and go by editing /etc/hdparm.conf
and enabling/disabling, respectively, the DMA setting on the second DVD drive
(/dev/hdd).

I have not tested whether this can cause the problem on a clean installation of
Hoary. It does cause the problem on Hoary + extra packages.

The drives in my system are as follows:
/dev/hda:
        ATA device, with non-removable media
        Model Number: Maxtor 6Y080L0
        Serial Number: Y2151XLC
        Firmware Revision: YAR41BW0
(there is no /dev/hdb)
/dev/hdc:
        ATAPI CD-ROM, with removable media
        Model Number: HP DVD Writer 630
        Serial Number: CNK503160C
        Firmware Revision: 9H11
/dev/hdd:
        ATAPI CD-ROM, with removable media
        Model Number: LITE-ON DVD SOHD-16P9S
        Serial Number:
        Firmware Revision: FS07

If you need any further information about the configuration of this system in
order to diagnose the problem, don't hesitate to ask. I'm just happy that it is
no longer giving HAL initialization errors.

Ben Stanley.