Fafhrd:
Hi! And, yes, I agree that driver issues with system facilities (like those that appear in the System Devices hive/folder in DevMgr) are pretty likely culprits for the symptoms that you and other posters mention. I've found the French website Station Drivers to be unusually complete in its coverage of chipset stuff, looking backward in time as well as to the latest and greatest new mobos. You might want to see if you can find some relief there.
HTH,
--Ed--