Comment 13 for bug 540637

I am having a similar issue with the following server configuration:
vmlinuz-2.6.32-25-generic, nfs-kernel-server and kubuntu 10.04

the workaround restarting portmap before nfs-kernel-server fixes the problem for me. I don't see the problem with normal nfs directory access unless I use thunderbird on an nfs directory which does the file locking and does not work at all until I restart portmap before nfs-kernel-server. I modified the /etc/init/rc-sysinit.conf as suggested in #1 above to the following but I still need to restart portmap and nfs-kernel-server each time the system reboots.

My /etc/init/rc-sysinit.conf is:
# rc-sysinit - System V initialisation compatibility
#
# This task runs the old System V-style system initialisation scripts,
# and enters the default runlevel when finished.

description "System V initialisation compatibility"
author "Scott James Remnant <email address hidden>"

start on filesystem and net-device-up IFACE=lo and started portmap
stop on runlevel

# Default runlevel, this may be overriden on the kernel command-line
# or by faking an old /etc/inittab entry
env DEFAULT_RUNLEVEL=2

# There can be no previous runlevel here, but there might be old
# information in /var/run/utmp that we pick up, and we don't want
# that.
#
# These override that
env RUNLEVEL=
env PREVLEVEL=
.......

who -r and initctl list results follow below.

who -r
      run-level 2 2010-09-03 05:16

$ initctl list
alsa-mixer-save stop/waiting
avahi-daemon start/running, process 1146
mountall-net stop/waiting
nmbd start/running, process 1154
rc stop/waiting
rpc_pipefs start/running
rsyslog start/running, process 1105
screen-cleanup stop/waiting
tty4 start/running, process 1209
udev start/running, process 442
upstart-udev-bridge start/running, process 413
ureadahead-other stop/waiting
apport stop/waiting
console-setup stop/waiting
hwclock-save stop/waiting
irqbalance stop/waiting
plymouth-log stop/waiting
smbd start/running, process 1102
tty5 start/running, process 1213
statd start/running, process 3032
atd start/running, process 1233
dbus start/running, process 1125
failsafe-x stop/waiting
plymouth stop/waiting
portmap start/running, process 3019
ssh start/running, process 1124
control-alt-delete stop/waiting
hwclock stop/waiting
network-manager start/running, process 1166
usplash stop/waiting
module-init-tools stop/waiting
cron start/running, process 1234
mountall stop/waiting
acpid start/running, process 1229
plymouth-stop stop/waiting
rcS stop/waiting
ufw start/running
mounted-varrun stop/waiting
rc-sysinit stop/waiting
anacron stop/waiting
tty2 start/running, process 1224
udevtrigger stop/waiting
mounted-dev stop/waiting
tty3 start/running, process 1225
udev-finish stop/waiting
cryptdisks-udev stop/waiting
hostname stop/waiting
kdm start/running, process 1131
mountall-reboot stop/waiting
mysql start/running, process 1280
gssd stop/waiting
mountall-shell stop/waiting
mounted-tmp stop/waiting
network-interface (lo) start/running
network-interface (eth3) start/running
plymouth-splash stop/waiting
tty1 start/running, process 1656
udevmonitor stop/waiting
cryptdisks-enable stop/waiting
dmesg stop/waiting
network-interface-security start/running
networking stop/waiting
procps stop/waiting
tty6 start/running, process 1228
idmapd start/running, process 1115
ureadahead stop/waiting