I am also experiencing repeated attempts to access /dev/fd0. Since my floppy drive actually exists, but there is no drive, I am going crazy with its constant clicking. Running 'sudo modprobe -r floppy' gets rid of the clicking, but the drive light stays on, which makes me wonder how clean the unloading of floppy was.

I'm providing the same information as the original reporter for comparison:

$ apt-cache policy gvfs
gvfs:
  Installed: 1.3git20090512-0ubuntu2
  Candidate: 1.3git20090512-0ubuntu2
  Version table:
 *** 1.3git20090512-0ubuntu2 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
$ dmesg | tail
[  348.836058] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[  350.836031] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[  352.836049] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[  354.836039] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[  356.836081] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[  358.836056] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[  360.836031] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[  362.836031] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[  364.836038] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[  366.836060] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
$ devkit-disks --dump > devkit-disks # see attached file
$ gvfs-mount -l
Drive(0): (null)
  Type: GProxyDrive (GProxyVolumeMonitorGdu)
Drive(1): TEAC DVD+RW DV-W58E
  Type: GProxyDrive (GProxyVolumeMonitorGdu)
$ sudo modprobe -r floppy
$ sudo modprobe floppy floppy=debug
$ dmesg | tail -n 40 # after waiting a bit
[  632.836045] floppy0: calling disk change from seek
[  632.836049] floppy0: checking disk change line for drive 0
[  632.836052] floppy0: jiffies=83209
[  632.836063] floppy0: disk change line=80
[  632.836066] floppy0: flags=2
[  632.836078] floppy0: reschedule timeout request done 0
[  632.836086] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
[  634.817327] floppy0: reschedule timeout lock fdc
[  634.817388] floppy0: reschedule timeout redo fd request
[  634.817395] floppy0: checking disk change line for drive 0
[  634.817399] floppy0: jiffies=83704
[  634.817430] floppy0: disk change line=80
[  634.817433] floppy0: flags=2
[  634.817455] queue fd request dtime=34421
[  634.817459] floppy0: reschedule timeout floppy start
[  634.817464] floppy0: setting NEWCHANGE in floppy_start
[  634.817468] floppy0: calling disk change from floppy_ready
[  634.817472] floppy0: checking disk change line for drive 0
[  634.817476] floppy0: jiffies=83704
[  634.817486] floppy0: disk change line=80
[  634.817489] floppy0: flags=6
[  634.817501] floppy0: calling disk change from seek
[  634.817599] floppy0: checking whether disk is write protected
[  634.817602] floppy0: wp=40
[  634.817699] seek command: dtime=34421
[  634.822409] seek interrupt: dtime=34422
[  634.822415] floppy0: clearing NEWCHANGE flag because of effective seek
[  634.822419] floppy0: jiffies=83705
[  634.840039] floppy0: calling disk change from floppy_ready
[  634.840048] floppy0: checking disk change line for drive 0
[  634.840052] floppy0: jiffies=83710
[  634.840064] floppy0: disk change line=80
[  634.840068] floppy0: flags=0
[  634.840081] floppy0: calling disk change from seek
[  634.840084] floppy0: checking disk change line for drive 0
[  634.840088] floppy0: jiffies=83710
[  634.840099] floppy0: disk change line=80
[  634.840102] floppy0: flags=2
[  634.840115] floppy0: reschedule timeout request done 0
[  634.840125] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
$ ps ax | egrep fd0 | egrep -v egrep
 4126 ?        S      0:00 devkit-disks-daemon: polling /dev/sr0 /dev/fd0
 4450 ?        S      0:00 hald-addon-storage: no polling on /dev/fd0 because it is explicitly disabled


This all occurred after updates I preformed this afternoon.