[CentOS] ip_conntrack_ftp fails to load on CentOS 4.3

I have a CentOS 4.3 box that is giving me some serious problem.  During
the "yum update" from 4.2 -> 4.3 I lost my connection (okay, I
accidentally closed the window).  I logged back on and did another yum
update, and it appeared as though things completed properly.

Everything is working fine, up until one of my hosting clients noted
that he is now unable to use ftp to update his web site.  He could when
I was running 4.2.  Upon further inspection, I noted that the
ip_conntrack_ftp module wasn't loaded.  When I tried to insert it
manually via "modprobe ip_conntrack_ftp" I get what appears to be a hang
in the terminal session.  Logging on via a separate session I can see
that there are tons of "modprobe" processes being spawned.  I can use ^C
to break out of modprobe and the processes all die.

Thinking that I may borked the kernel install, I dropped back to the
2.6.9-22SMP.EL kernel, where I still cannot load the module.  I then
removed the -34* kernel packages and reinstalled them, then booted into
them.  No dice.

Just for fun, I cleared all iptables entries, and tried again.  No dice.
 Short of a reload (which would be inconvient, given that the box is 100
miles away) I'm at a loss at what to look at next.  Everything appears
to be fine.

The machine is a dual-Athlon box, SCSI, with selinux in permissive mode.
 Using "strace modprobe ip_conntrack_ftp" I get the results which are at
the end of this message.

The "unfinished" entry at the end occured when I hit ^C.  None of my
other boxes (4.2->4.3 upgrades) have this problem.  An "rpm -Va" doesn't
present any unexpected results (e.g.  Those files noted as changed have
been, by me.)

What have I missed?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks very much.

Barry

strace modprobe ip_conntrack_ftp results:

[SNIP]
open("/lib/modules/2.6.9-34.ELsmp/kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_conntrack.ko",
O_RDWR) = 3
fcntl64(3, F_SETLKW, {type=F_WRLCK, whence=SEEK_SET, start=0, len=1}) = 0
open("/proc/modules", O_RDONLY)         = 4
fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0444, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1,
0) = 0xb7f36000
read(4, "sunrpc 142757 1 - Live 0xf8c1100"..., 1024) = 923
close(4)                                = 0
munmap(0xb7f36000, 4096)                = 0
close(3)                                = 0
open("/lib/modules/2.6.9-34.ELsmp/kernel/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_conntrack_ftp.ko",
O_RDWR) = 3
fcntl64(3, F_SETLKW, {type=F_WRLCK, whence=SEEK_SET, start=0, len=1}) = 0
open("/proc/modules", O_RDONLY)         = 4
fstat64(4, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0444, st_size=0, ...}) = 0
mmap2(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1,
0) = 0xb7f36000
read(4, "sunrpc 142757 1 - Live 0xf8c1100"..., 1024) = 923
read(4, "", 1024)                       = 0
close(4)                                = 0
munmap(0xb7f36000, 4096)                = 0
close(3)                                = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGINT, {SIG_IGN}, {SIG_DFL}, 8) = 0
rt_sigaction(SIGQUIT, {SIG_IGN}, {SIG_DFL}, 8) = 0
rt_sigprocmask(SIG_BLOCK, [CHLD], [], 8) = 0
clone(child_stack=0, flags=CLONE_PARENT_SETTID|SIGCHLD,
parent_tidptr=0xbfec6ed8) = 5403
waitpid(5403,  <unfinished ...>
[SNIP]