FULL title: kde device notifier not seeing some devices, not letting go of other devices.

KDE Platform Version 4.7.4, included with Kubuntu 12.04 (Or did I install Kubuntu 12.10?).

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uname -a
Linux username-SYSTEMNAME 3.0.0-32-generic #51-Ubuntu SMP Thu Mar 21 15:51:26 UTC 2013 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux

I have an eMachines T5246, it includes a "Digital Media Manager" panel for connecting flash media to the host hardware and thus the OS. This panel has worked flawlessly with Windows 7, and then worked fine with Kubuntu 11.04, and a few other distros. I always use the stock KDE which comes with the distro, no third party nor non-default repo stuff here. I use the media card portion and the USB portion of the Digital Media Manager.

Not letting go of devices.
I have recently had issues with a single USB Flash drive which essentially lost its partitioning. Using the Digital Media Manager USB connections, I have reformatted that device, several times, many ways, in fact. Admittedly, the device was wonky before this device notifier issue. During the lengthy process of testing whether I formatted it properly, this drive was mounted repeatedly (physical insertion and software mounting). When I discovered the moments issue, I safely removed it and physically removed it. After about 10 mounts with repartitioning and reformatting in between, KDE Device Notifier uncovered and displayed older name for the device. Not the name I assigned using mkfs.vfat -n name /dev/sd_, but a name which the device had when it was delivered from the factory (Sandisk Cruzer). I am not certain how that name was ever stored (for that device) in this PC, so to have the original name display was, I assumed, a function of the device itself having a portion of the device reserved for factory stuff and from that section, device notifier found the older name. In any event, when that name was first displayed when I inserted the device into the USB port, I was confused, and I physically removed the flash drive. Device notitifier never lost the name after I removed the device. For the remainder of the KDE session, the name Sandisk Cruzer remained in the dvice notifier, even when there was no flash media inserted into any USB port. FWIW, the systems rear USB ports hold mouse and keyboard, and a short USB extension cord which remained empty all day. Logout from the KDE session and also restart the Xserver, all cleared up. Another time a few months ago, the persistent name issue remained over several full shotdowns and cold restarts. Then the name persistence happened with a different USB Flash drive. A full restart of X fixed that second error, and now I'm thinking the wonky device isn't the cause of the problem.

Not displaying a device.
In that same Digital Media Manager, I just inserted a Compact Flash card, and KDE device notifier showed nothing 9 times out of 10 attempts. I checked that the card works elsewhere, I inspected the media reader slot for dust (nothing found). Because that all looked reasonable, I opened a Konsole, switched to root user, and issued dmesg | tail a few times after and before inserting and removing the same device. The OS sees EVERY transaction of inserting and removing that Compact Flash card, the media reader panel blinks every time for the physical mounting activity. it seems that device notifier is wandering around in a stupor.

Needing 45 seconds or more to display a device I inserted.
That same wonky USB Flash drive was, at first, the only device that suffered long delays showing up in Device notifier. It also had issues on my EeePC 900A, using the same distribution as the system I uname'd above, thought the device itself was the issue. But then came the Compact Flash card not working here. I assumed the Compact Flash would eventually display, but in the time I needed to compose all of the above, plus a few edits, it still does not show in the device notifier. That is about 25 minutes after dmesg| tail showed it was connected to the Digital Media Manager.

Sorry, that isn't cutting it for me. The problem for me is I am losing confidence in what once worked very well. I want to inspect the device notifier logs and other configuration data, to see if something is corrupted.

Anyone have any ideas why this happens? Other devices are displayed by device notifier immediately (ok, less than 2 seconds).

What can I do to get this resolved?

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[ 2791.692557] sd 5:0:0:1: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2791.693900]  sdd:
[ 2811.007035] sdd: detected capacity change from 2048901120 to 0
[ 2817.681678] sd 5:0:0:1: [sdd] 4001760 512-byte logical blocks: (2.04 GB/1.90 GiB)
[ 2817.683242] sd 5:0:0:1: [sdd] No Caching mode page present
[ 2817.683254] sd 5:0:0:1: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2817.685531] sd 5:0:0:1: [sdd] No Caching mode page present
[ 2817.685538] sd 5:0:0:1: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2817.687148]  sdd:
[ 6963.005904] sdd: detected capacity change from 2048901120 to 0
user@user-system:~$

2791 lines in code, above is when I pulled the Compact Flash card from the Digital Media Manager. 28XX lines are from re-inserting the same device and waiting for it to display, and it never displayed, so I came here and started this post. 6963 line is from when I pulled the device out of the Digital Media Manager, still unrecognized by KDE Device Notifier, at the end of creating this post.

To begin with, it may be worth checking if what KDE is presenting matches what it is being told - this will eliminate KDE side caching as the cause of the issue. Running the command "udisks --dump" will give full output as to what UDisks believes the current state of attached media is.

As for the factory name - that data is stored in the USB descriptors for the device, and is used by KDE to give a meaningful name to the device when another is not available. In this case it is likely the data partition was not accessible - something which is hinted at by the dmesg logs you provided.