thanks for more of the info there everyone...will be taking up some of these suggestions after my exams are all done with

damned angel-> i'll be going and dl'ing a copy of the firmware i had before the update and downgrading it back to that (if it allows me to) and seeing what happens...

docpc-> thanks for that...will do that if the other suggestions all fail

archer-> thanks for pointing me to that link...could come in handy