USB Flash Disk is write protected and can't turn it off!

[Bruce Labitt]

I have a SuSE 9.0 system running and have recently upgraded KDE to 
3.4.2.  Just today I noticed that my USB key can no longer be written 
to.  All files seem to be write protected.  There is a mechanical switch 
on the side of the key which, duh, sets write protection.  Now before 
you all say the switch is busted, just 10 minutes ago I checked it on my 
old 'doze machine and it allows me to read and write to it.

It may be conincidental, but in the old KDE 3.1 I had no problem 
recognizing and using the key,... well it was a little slow to recognize 
it, but it worked.  Now that KDE is "new" there are a few things that no 
longer work.

Anyways, anyone got some tips or things I can check on?  Please be 
explicit with your instructions or suggestions as I'm a relative noob at 
this.  I've only been dabbling with Linux for 5 years or so...

Thanks,
Bruce