Processes hang due to nfs client failing to lock files

Issue

• I have reinstalled the RHS nodes with version 3.0.4 and configured ctdb for the ip failover. I can NFS mount the gluster volume directly using the floating ip. So that works OK.
• Now when logging in the .Xauthority file gets created without a problem but there are still problems.
• Firefox starts but when accessing the menu it locks up. I only get this with an user that has its homedir on nfs (glustervolume). An user with an local homedir has no problems.
• These messages appear in the messages log:
  Apr 8 09:35:46 obionfs2 gnome-session[11552]: WARNING: Application 'gnome-settings-daemon.desktop' failed to register before timeout
• It also seems that the two xrdb gnome-settings-daemon spawns are defunct. And that's probably because the two xrdb processess gnome-settings-daemon starts are defunct.
• So what is xrdb trying to do and what is its relation to firefox?