Guess it could be - when I say that I didn't have the problem when I was running Win2K, the only bit of hardware that's common to my setup then is the main hard disk...

I have got an IR adapter plugged into the other COM port, so it may be that the sync software I use with my phone could be misbehaving.

Well, I've got into the habit of starting hyperterm before I power it up now anyway, but it's still a pain.

Bryan.