problem with /dev/hdc and DVD player

[tickfigure <tickfigure@hotmail.com>]

Hello,

I'm running Debian Sarge on a IBM R50E laptop.  I cannot seem to get the  
DVD/CD-RW to function correctly.

I receive the following error when trying to mount a DVD/CD with mount  
/cdrom:

mount: special device /dev/hdc does not exist

The following links do exist:
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 11 Jun 19 06:56 /cdrom -> media/cdrom
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root 6 Jun 19 06:56 /media/cdrom -> cdrom0

The entry is available in /etc/fstab:
/dev/hdc        /media/cdrom0   iso9660 ro,user,noauto  0       0

I see that the /dev/hdc block device does NOT exist. I have tried modprobe  
ide-cd, it didn't work, I tried ide-scsi, and it didn't work.  Yes, they  
are compiled as modules in the kernel.

Looking at dmesg, I see that the device has been found:

<snip>
hda: max request size: 128KiB
hda: 117210240 sectors (60011 MB) w/7877KiB Cache, CHS=65535/16/63,  
UDMA(100)
 /dev/ide/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1 p2 p3 < p5 p6 >
hdc: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4080N, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
<snip>

But it also shows...

<snip>
ide_cd: Unknown symbol register_cdrom
ide_cd: Unknown symbol cdrom_ioctl
ide_cd: Unknown symbol cdrom_mode_select
ide_cd: Unknown symbol cdrom_media_changed
ide_cd: Unknown symbol cdrom_get_last_written
ide_cd: Unknown symbol cdrom_mode_sense
ide_cd: Unknown symbol cdrom_get_media_event
ide_cd: Unknown symbol cdrom_release
ide_cd: Unknown symbol cdrom_open
ide_cd: Unknown symbol unregister_cdrom
ide_cd: Unknown symbol cdrom_number_of_slots
ide_cd: Unknown symbol init_cdrom_command
<snip>

Just a WAG, and as root in /dev, I ran: mknod hdc b 3 1
It made the node but it's not mountable and I probably have the wrong  
MAJOR/MINOR numbers anyway.

I'm at a loss... any help out there? :-)