USB ignored after upgrade to kernel 2.6.6.1

[JdK <dekrahe tiscali be>]

Running FC2 I upgraded my system with yum that replaced the kernel 2.6.5
with 2.6.6.1.
>From that time usb devices (printer, memory stick) no longer work. In
order to use these, i must boot with the old kernel.
At boot, the new kernel displays a message saying that my printer has
been deleted. After that if I try using a usb-key, I get the message
"/dev/sda1 is not a valid block device". At no time, the usb key seems
to be active (red lights never lit).
etc/fstab looks like /dev/sda1 /mnt/removable auto noauto,user,sync 0 0
What's wrong. Thanks for help.