[Bug 31517] hal-device-manager does not load

[Mlt]

Public bug report changed:
https://launchpad.net/malone/bugs/31517

Comment:
When starting gnome the following comment comes up:

Internal error

failed to initialize HAL!

None of the USB functions work or, funnily enough does update-notifier.
Trying to debug using wiki instructions for removable drives the
following happens:

michael at ubuntu:~$ update-notifier
update-notifier: hal_initialize failed: (null)
: Resource temporarily unavailable
** (update-notifier:7881): DEBUG: tray_icons_init
michael at ubuntu:~$ killall gnome-volume-manager
gnome-volume-manager: no process killed
michael at ubuntu:~$ gnome-volume-manager -n 2>&1 | tee gvm.log

** (gnome-volume-manager:8147): WARNING **: manager.c/3016: hal_initialize failed: (null)
michael at ubuntu:~$
michael at ubuntu:~$ lshal > lshal.txt
error: libhal_ctx_init: (null): (null)
Could not initialise connection to hald.
 Normally this mean the HAL daemon (hald) is not running or not ready.

This is on an dist-upgrade from a fully functioning breezy installation.
It was current as of the time & date of this comment.