arduino tools-serial menu item disabled

That error is mentioned here:

where it says "This bug is still present in Ubuntu 9.04 and Ubuntu 9.10 ..."

then goes on to say:
"A suggestion of the cause is at LKML: Alan Stern: Re: [PATCH] usbcore: Limit number of 'unable to enumerate USB device' messages"
which says:
"... This is normal; it is caused by userspace loading the drivers in the
wrong order. ehci-hcd is supposed to be loaded before uhci-hcd or
ohci-hcd, not after. ..."

Couldn't find a resolution, so I may have gone down a blind alley
Sorry