network browsing in XP

Have this poblem with XP for a long time, and I couldn't find a way to fix it, but maybe one of you guys know something about it.

With certain network adapters (usually expensive ones) I can't browse other computers on the network or transfer files. Sometimes it works for awhile, but then it freezes and I have to use task manager to close the explorer or the transfer window. Same problem when I try to browse that computer from another on the network.

I had this problem with various network cards, from 3com, Allied Tellesyn, Intel, Surecom, Linksys, etc, on diferent computers. Same problem with a Toshiba Satellite and a Dell laptop. I tried using XP with SP1 or SP2, or without them.The problem was still there.

I tried a couple of junk network cards (5$ worth) and they worked just fine.

Any ideas please?

Romania is a beautiful country, unfortunately it's inhabited.