2.6.12.5 stalls on boot

["j.t. holmes" <linux@jtholmes.com>]

2.6.12.5 and others below that to 2.6.10  stall on boot. The problem is 
udev.

It stalls between 1 to 3 minutes.

I have the latest 

udev
hotplug
klibc

u name it

Something happened about 2.6.11.X and I see others writing about
similar items

The base system is Suse 9.2  and I am beginning to wonder if
there is something that Suse wrote that is interferring w/the boot.
Since they shipped 9.2 with a 2.6.8-24 and there have been a lot
of changes up to 2.6.12.5

In any case the  boot  stalls  just after it prints these two lines

input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard on isa0060/serio0
input: PS/2 Generic Mouse on isa0060/serio4

and about 2 mins + -  later it prints this

EXT2-fs warning (device hda6): ext2_fill_super: mounting ext3 filesystem 
as ext2
and then continue normal boot

I sent in  an  ALT SYSREQ  P  and T  trace a few weeks ago
but didnt get an answer.

Am I incorrect in assuming that everything up until the root disk is mounted
is primarily kernel activity? If not then where else can I look.

I can provide any info desired.

Just in case this is Suse related I am going to load  9.3  early next week
and compile  2.6.12.5 on it and see it I encounter the stall problem. I will
post the results from the activity.