[TYPO3-dam] Inserting meta record failed. See log for reason! DAM error

[dave typo]

My non-admin user group gets a "Inserting meta record failed. See log
for reason!" error when uploading with the DAM file upload, or when
using the upload feature through the attach files section of tt_news.

I can't see anything wrong, although this might not be the error log:

pathInfo
__type	dir
__exists	1
__protected	
__protected_type	
dir_ctime	1168517981
dir_mtime	1168517981
dir_size	4096
dir_type	dir
dir_owner	15
dir_perms	16877
dir_writable	1
dir_readable	1
mount_id	93b680a3ab0d042bbd91316b54f5798f
mount_path	/datas/httpd-data/act/fileadmin/Appeals/
mount_name	appeal_filemount
mount_type	
web_nonweb	web
dir_name	Appeals
dir_title	Appeals
dir_path_absolute	/datas/httpd-data/act/fileadmin/Appeals/
dir_path_relative	fileadmin/Appeals/
dir_path_from_mount	
MOD_SETTINGS
function	tx_dam_file_upload
tx_dam_resultsPerPage	20
tx_dam_folder	fileadmin/Appeals/
tx_dam_file_uploadFields	5
tx_dam_file_upload_overwrite	1
tx_dam_resultPointer	0

unless this data isn't the error log... if it's not then where do I
find the error log.

So, anyway,

Uploads work fine when logged in as an admin. Any suggestions as to
why the meta record problem may be occuring?

thanks,

-Dave