After updating (via yum) to the KDE 3.5.0 packages on a fully updated system there is a 30 second delay in mid-desktop-initialization. The desktop startup begins as before, with the splash screen icons. Then the panel is mostly drawn (application icons but not deskstops; date, but not time) on the screen. Then there is the new 30-seconds delay. After the delay the panel is fully drawn, the desktop icons are shown, and the AutoStart programs are run. This on a SMP desktop system. I see this same behavior with a shorter delay (~10 seconds) on a Pentium4-based notebook machine, also fully updated. Given that both machine are running the same software in the same network environment, I have to assume that KDE is inspecting or waiting for some hardware status. Running top on a SSH login, I don't see anything obvious during the pause. The ARTs daemon is using the most CPU time during that period, but that is only about 5% utilization. Any advice on how to remove these delays on KDE startup? Thanks.