Intermittant Sound and mount problems lucid 10.04

[hukoeth]

Hello,
I'm quite new to Linux so I need a bit of help troubleshooting my issues.

I have done a clean install of Ubuntu 10.04 and really like it however I have one problem:

Every now and then the sound just stops working and if I check in Preferences >> Sound >> Hardware no sound card is listed. When this happens I also cannot mount drives (tried FAT formatted USB stick and NTFS drive). The error is "You are not authorized".

When I then try to reboot it just logs me out. When I reboot using command line with sudo it works.

All these problems go away after 2-3 reboots but it is quite annoying and I didn't have this problem with the RC before.

Can someone give me some hints how I can troubleshoot this, please?

Thank you,
Uli

[hukoeth]

No one any tips to get me started with the troubleshooting? I read about Soundcard troubleshooting but I don't think I found anything relevant since it does work most of the times (for me it looks like user permissions not working as they should but that's just a guess based on the error I get when I try to mount and the fact that a shutdown results in a log out).

I'm a Windows power user so I am not afraid to touch stuff on a PC but I could really need a pointer where to start since I'm a complete n00b on Linux and still trying to get my head around how things work on it.

Hope anyone can help me becuase I'd really like to get rid of my Windows one day :D

Thank you,
Uli