I'm having very similar problems resulting in my filesystems containing /var and /home being corrupted several times - very disappointing.
Making an "reiserfsck --rebuild-tree" gives me most of the file systems back but I always end up with a bunch of files in lost+found and some really lost files.
I'm using SuSE 9.0, kernel 2.4.21-202-default. The file systems are created on volumes of lvm-1.0.7-105, and the file systems use reiserfs-3.6.9-33. On an IBM T40 thinkpad which of course shouldn't matter.
Any hint would be highly appreciated.
I was having similar problems and it turned out to be an overloaded/old power supply. After replacing the PS all filesystem problems disappeared. If you have an older PC and have added newer larger hard drives, they will use more power and add more strain to the older PS. Also adding more devices over the years will add to the strain. Just an FYI. -- Ken Schneider unix user since 1989 linux user since 1994 SuSE user since 1998 (5.2)