Thanks. I had read, probably here, that VM on the card was risky business, which is why I did not set it up on the second card. It is very helpful to know exactly what the system uses the internal card for -- I have a 512mb card in there now, which is probably enough unless I go big on video. I had stuck a 128mb in there for a while with no perceivable effect on performance. It would be nice to have a big card in there for video and photos, but unless someone figures out the problem, and assuming smaller cards are safe, smaller cards it will be. I don't think bad seating has ever been my problem. The second toasted card freezes any Windows based file manager (explorere and Power Desk) which tries to access the drive on my Lexar multicard reader (which sets up "ghost" drives until a crd is inserted, so there is a D: drive even without a card in the reader). Using other readers which don't set up a "ghost," the PC won't even recognize any drive has been plugged in.

Thanks again.