Sticking with 2.4.2 I reverted to win32 ext 204 and problems were the same or worse. Then I uninstalled both, removed the dangling py*24.dll and then installed "ActivePython 2.3.5.236". All the problems went away.
I hate to go back to 2.3 cause there are some nice updates in the 2.4 library that I'd like to have. Time permitting I'll try other versions of various windows distributions and let you know the outcome. I'd be interested in hearing more from other folks who may or may not be experiencing similar problems. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
