2.4.18 hangs during probe of hda (hda == Compact Flash not plugged in)

I'm building an embedded system which has no disk drives, but it does have a slot for a compact flash card. One problem I'm having is that when the compact flash is not plugged in during boot, Linux 2.4.18 tries to probe hda, and hangs.

I've used the "hda=noprobe" kernel argument to get past that stage. The problem is that once I've booted, I don't know how to enable hda.

Since the Compact Flash is removable, I want to enable hda as soon as it is inserted. What is the proper way to do this?

Dave