Hello!
I use kde-4.4.4 on a gentoo x86_64 box.
From out of nowhere I have strange problems with the device notifier.
It worked perfectly in the exact same setup. Now the problem is:
If I freshly boot the PC, it does not work at all.
If I log out kde and log back in, it works.
It came to my mind, that maybe some config files in my ~.kde dir are broken.
So I created a new user but the problem still persists.
Booting > works not
Changing user (ie log out, log in) > works

So far I also tried reinstalling hal, udev, dbus and also deleting/recreating all of their config files without success.

Any ideas here?

By Device Notifier I gather you are referring to the Plasma applet?

In any case, check that HAL is operational ( the output of lshal and solid-hardware list should output quite a few items )

Yes, i mean the plasma applet.
If I plug in my usb stick within a freshly booted session (applet shows nothing)
lshal gives:

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lshal | grep Kingston
  info.vendor = 'Kingston Technology Company Inc.'  (string)
  usb_device.vendor = 'Kingston Technology Company Inc.'  (string)
  usb.vendor = 'Kingston Technology Company Inc.'  (string)
  scsi.vendor = 'Kingston'  (string)
udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/storage_serial_Kingston_DataTraveler_2_0_5B71108AA330_0_0'
  block.storage_device = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/storage_serial_Kingston_DataTraveler_2_0_5B71108AA330_0_0'  (string)
  info.udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/storage_serial_Kingston_DataTraveler_2_0_5B71108AA330_0_0'  (string)
  info.vendor = 'Kingston'  (string)
  storage.serial = 'Kingston_DataTraveler_2.0_5B71108AA330-0:0'  (string)
  storage.vendor = 'Kingston'  (string)
  block.storage_device = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/storage_serial_Kingston_DataTraveler_2_0_5B71108AA330_0_0'  (string)
  info.parent = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/storage_serial_Kingston_DataTraveler_2_0_5B71108AA330_0_0'  (string)


and solid-hardware list:

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solid-hardware list | grep Kingston
udi = '/org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/
storage_serial_Kingston_DataTraveler_2_0_5B71108AA330_0_0'


Hald is started.

Just checked my /var/log/messages and it fills up with these kind of messages, don't know what they mean:

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cat /var/log/messages
Jun 17 16:47:23 amarok dbus-daemon: [system] Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type="method_call", sender=":1.15" (uid=0 pid=2944 comm="solid-hardware) interface="org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable" member="Introspect" error name="(unset)" requested_reply=0 destination="org.freedesktop.Hal" (uid=0 pid=2054 comm="/usr/sbin/hald))
Jun 17 16:47:23 amarok dbus-daemon: [system] Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type="method_call", sender=":1.15" (uid=0 pid=2944 comm="solid-hardware) interface="org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable" member="Introspect" error name="(unset)" requested_reply=0 destination="org.freedesktop.Hal" (uid=0 pid=2054 comm="/usr/sbin/hald))


This means that KDE is not able to request the information it needs from HAL due to D-Bus security policy. Your distribution HAL packager is usually responsible for ensuring these are correct. Please file a bug with your distribution.

Well bcooksley, thanks for your input.
I finally seem to have it fixed:
I moved my system from hdd to ssd.
On gentoo, there is the option to start runlevel services in parallel.
On hdd, it was no problem to have xdm/kdm in boot runlevel, until it started hald had finished > no problem.
It seems that on ssd, kdm simply "outran" hald and so that service was non functional during the kde session.
Your hint with lshal made me wonder about that and so I put xdm in default runlevel, where it is started after hal and the problem went away.
Thanks!