I want to clarify and give credit where it is due; the full workaround using rc.local was proposed by mambro and then further detailed for us less skilled users by Mr. Jayme.
-- auto smbfs mount in /etc/fstab causes hald hang at boot https://launchpad.net/bugs/44874 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
