White screen on boot up and USB flash errors

I'm having several problems with with 10.3 with all updates. My original
install on a Compaq Evo N400C, worked well (except for sound). Until --
I noticed the problem it when I shut it down and moved the system to another
room and rebooted. Problems then:

When reaching run level 5, the screen went full white - nothing visible.
I then rebooted in the failsafe mode, logged in at run level 3 (as normal
user) and entered startx. KDE came up fine, no white screen, fully usable.
To shutdown, all I can do is logoff from the user, and then do a su
shutdown. It has an ATI 3d graphics card, without the 3d driver, which I
may need to install. I haven't bothered with that with no need for 3d.

Now, plugging in a USB flash stick (or a USB DVD) comes up with
hal-storage-mount-removable no <-- (action,result) in an error alert.
And, I cannot use MyComputer or Home to bring up a listing of what's on the
drives.

The USB will work properly if plugged in when boot starts.

I can, in su mode, create a folder (/media/d1) and then mount the flash
(mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /mount/d1) and so normal listing, copies, etc. (as
long as I change the files moved from the flash from root to user
ownership).

This ability to run properly indicates to me that there is no hardware
failure. I think the problem is the result of an update (first noticed
occurrence of problems was on Oct 25, 2007).

I did a re-install yesterday, with full updates. The problem is still
there.

I am currently doing a full install with no updates (via USB DVD), to see
that result.
.

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