Broadcom BCM5704C dual-channel GbE locks up during backups/multiple file transfers on Win 2003 Server

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone else had problems with motherboards sporting the
Broadcom BCM5704C gigabit ethernet chipsets that are running Windows 2003
Server.
I've been able to successfully reproduce this problem on 3 different
motherboards after some vigorous testing while trying to identify a problem
whereby a simple network backup (or just regular file copies - at least
500MB or so of files, large/small) cause the computer to completely lock up.
No blue screen, no errors, nothing, nada! Just frozen solid.
Disabling the on-board Broadcom NIC (these chipsets are on-board only, i
believe) and putting in another brand (Intel dual gb ethernet) NIC solves
the problem completely. Unfortunately, my servers are 1U meaning I can only
use 1 slot for other things - currently I do not need another slot as the
boards in question have onboard video and onboard SCSI.

Because this problem was repeatable on 3 completely different boards (all
running Win2003Server), the Broadcom chip itself is flawed (maybe gets too
hot - it never locks up during regular use, only during continuous file
transfers) OR the driver is flawed.
I no longer have the ability to test the chip on a Windows 2000 Server -
based system (nor the time), to determine if it is an OS-specific driver.

Someone had suggested that maybe ShadowCopy was to blame, but disabling this
had no effect.

Have any of you guys experienced lockups during a large backup or large file
copy over your network? If so, check to see if you are using a
Broadcom-based NIC and post here. A lot of Opteron boards use these chips
(the ones I am using).

Perhaps it is an incompatibility with Opteron CPUS (the only thing that my
boards have in common), so I'd like to hear if anyone else with a
P4/Broadcom BCM5704C configuration is experiencing these lockups.

TIA

Dave