IBM600E Unstable Gnome 2.2 gnome-cd : invalid cd device

[Ewing Jeff <jeff.ewing@eds.com>]

Selecting CD player from Gnome 2.2. get error message "Invalid CD
Device". By starting a VMWare guest(W2k), connecting then
disconnecting the CD in VMWare, the "CD Player" will start
working.
                                                                                                
Is there a way to coax the CD player on an IBM 600E Thinkpad
into working without the need to start a VMWare guest os?

(This problem does not occur on almost identically configured
software on a Dell desktop)
                                                                                                
Configuration
IBM 600E ThinkPad
Debian Unstable - as at 17 Jul.
Kernel 2.4.21
user groups : adm disk dialout audio dip

Jeff Ewing