yeh patch cable was all good, drivers all latest, (so far as i could tell the only ones for some harware at the time!) and settings matches etc. it was probably a driver issue or a hardware incompatability/ interference issue but its been sorted out since, an updated marvel-yukon gigabit driver was realsed for my chipset and it all worked fine after that. the latest and greatest hardware might not be the most compatible with other things true but its damn quick, efficient and the games and applications i run look mighty fine on my 22in WS monitor running at 1690x1050.
yes computers do suck at times, i use them, fix them, monitor them, replace them, configure them, break them everyday in my job.