> I understand what you are saying, however AFAIK KDE4 and
> Xfce do not use the eject command (they probably use udisks or similar),
> therefore I would not expect any problems with 'eject' to be reported even if
> they did exist.
> 
> I can't fix (or sometimes even work around) core Linux
> system problems by modifying TDE... :-)

I'll try to learn more. When I performed the tests in Xfce 4.10 and KDE 4.8.5, I did not test from the command line. Only through the desktop GUI. If what you say is true, then a command line test might not prove anything if those desktops do not use the eject command in any way.

I posted a query to the Slackware forum but I'm not optimistic because Trinity is not offically supported.

I have some older udev packages I can test. I also could configure udisks not to run or remove the package altogether to see whether there is a conflict somewhere. I'm leaning toward something soft locking the devices that prevents kio_media_mounthelper from working, for both for the Eject action and the Safely Remove action. My gut says whatever is causing the lock is affecting both since both actions are performed through the kio_media_mounthelper command. I use the phrase soft lock because the drive eject button still works. Only the TDE actions fail and only under TDEHW. Once the eject button is pressed, the eject command works thereafter.

Darrell