Device icons have stopped appearing on desktop

[Dave Wood]

Slackware 12.2 
2.6.27.7 kernel
xfce 4.4.3

I've noticed that the when I plug in a usb stick or put in a cd/dvd no
device icon appears. Xfce is managing the desktop.

I've tried reinstalling udev, hal and xfce. Dmesg shows the device inserted
and /var/log/messages doesn't show anything untoward. Not sure where to
look next.

This seems to be affecting autofs too because a device won't automount
until I have done 'touch /dev/sda'.

Any ideas?

-- 
"Consequences, Schmonsequences, as long as I'm rich."
		-- "Ali Baba Bunny" [1957, Chuck Jones]