spurrious EXT4 errors remount /home read-only

Since a couple of days, something seems to trigger spurrious EXT4 errors that result in /home being re-mounted read-only. The user is not warned about this by the desktop environment; instead, applications silently fail to save documents, which obviously results in several hours of work being lost.

I'd appreciate help on tracking the cause of these EXT4 errors and on fixing them.

It might also be a good idead for GTK2, GVFS or some other desktop component to produce some kind of LOUD and ANNOYING error message in the notification area to alert the user, in the event that the kernel resorts to re-monting the filesystem to read-only. The warning should point the user to locally-accessible documentation for tracking and fixing the issue, without requiring network access to some external documentation.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.38-8-generic 2.6.38-8.42
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: meracine 1654 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] Tiedostoa tai hakemistoa ei ole
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xefebc000 irq 44'
   Mixer name : 'SigmaTel STAC9200'
   Components : 'HDA:83847690,10280201,00102201 HDA:14f12c06,14f1000f,00100000'
   Controls : 12
   Simple ctrls : 7
Date: Tue May 17 15:54:33 2011
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=b957667b-7881-42f6-b502-c28eca645d58
IwConfig: Error: [Errno 2] Tiedostoa tai hakemistoa ei ole
MachineType: Dell Inc. Latitude D430
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=fi_FI:fi_FI.UTF-8:fi
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=fi_FI.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic root=UUID=cd9a1998-9fb2-4208-aba6-bc2ba8f5e36a ro panic=15 quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-2.6.38-8-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.38-8-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.52
RfKill: Error: [Errno 2] Tiedostoa tai hakemistoa ei ole
SourcePackage: linux
UdevDb: Error: [Errno 2] Tiedostoa tai hakemistoa ei ole
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2009-09-14 (610 days ago)
WpaSupplicantLog:

dmi.bios.date: 06/20/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A01
dmi.board.name: 000007
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA01:bd06/20/2007:svnDellInc.:pnLatitudeD430:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn000007:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Latitude D430
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.