[Cooker] Compact Flash USB 1.0 Reader (Datafab) probs

[Lyall Pearce]

Mandrake 9, Intel (P3 550)
I have a Datafab MDCFSM-B-USB Compact flash reader
It reports itself as being USB 1.0 (as opposed to 1.1)
I have great difficulty convincing it to mount my compact flash card reliably.
Sometimes, it mounts straight off the bat, other times, I reboot, unplug and re-plug the CF reader.
Any ideas or suggestions on a method I could follow that might give me more reliable results?

The CF entry in /etc/fstab is as follows (single line of course):-
=-=-
none /mnt/cf supermount dev=/dev/sda1,fs=vfat,--,user,iocharset=iso8859-1,umask=0,sync,codepage=850,quiet 0 0
=-=-

Additionally, I am completely confused, every now and then, the following entry appears in the /etc/fstab all by itself.
=-=-=-
/dev/sda1 /mnt/memory_card auto user,iocharset=iso8859-1,kudzu,codepage=850,noauto,exec 0 0
=-=-=-
If I do not have a CF in the reader on boot, it disappears and does not come back (automatically).

It strikes me as being something to do with Hotplug.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

...Lyall

PS. If it is of any use, the 'usbview' of the CF reader is as follows :-

USB to CF/SM Combo
Manufacturer: DataFab Systems Inc.
Serial Number: 7797D71897
Speed: 12Mb/s (full)
USB Version:  1.00
Device Class: ff(vend.)
Device Subclass: 00
Device Protocol: 00
Maximum Default Endpoint Size: 8
Number of Configurations: 1
Vendor Id: 07c4
Product Id: a005
Revision Number:  1.0d

Config Number: 1
Number of Interfaces: 1
Attributes: 80
MaxPower Needed: 100mA

Interface Number: 0
Name: usb-storage
Alternate Number: 0
Class: 05(PID  )
Sub Class: 00
Protocol: 00
Number of Endpoints: 2

Endpoint Address: 01
Direction: out
Attribute: 2
Type: Bulk
Max Packet Size: 64
Interval: 0ms

Endpoint Address: 82
Direction: in
Attribute: 2
Type: Bulk
Max Packet Size: 64
Interval: 0ms