according to this thread: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1660934#post1660934
the hal error happens when mounting by ip address. if you enable wins support and mount with netbios name '//netbiosname/share', the hal error goes away. -- auto smbfs mount in /etc/fstab causes hald hang at boot https://launchpad.net/bugs/44874 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs