[Snip] 
   Mar  7 18:36:19 chris kernel: [90286.627562] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdd] Assuming drive cache: write through
   Mar  7 18:36:19 chris kernel: [90286.627564] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdd] Attached SCSI removable disk
   Mar  7 18:37:59 chris kernel: [90386.509844] EXT3-fs (sdd): error: can't find ext3 filesystem on dev sdd.
   Mar  7 18:37:59 chris kernel: [90386.536201] EXT2-fs (sdd): error: can't find an ext2 filesystem on dev sdd.
   Mar  7 18:37:59 chris kernel: [90386.580300] EXT4-fs (sdd): VFS: Can't find ext4 filesystem
[Snip] 

The same USB drive works perfectly (i.e. automounts) in another xubuntu
11.10 system.

What log entries do you get on the working system?

--
ATB,
Karl.