FW1814 clicks only with ProTools not other app's

[joeR]

My Dell Inspiron 5150 laptop (3.06 P4 & 1gb RAM), fw pc/mcia card, external fw hdd, & fw1814 records 6+ tracks fine using Steinberg app, but when I use PT I get clicks when recording regardless of track count, sample rate, DAE settings, etc...
I've tuned XP as suggested, etc. even bought one of the recommended fw pc/mcia cards, (which arrived DOA) and nothing's working.
My work around is, record using Cubase, then import into ProTools, but this is ridiculous.
Before I throw any more good money after bad, is there anybody out there using a similar PC based laptop that is NOT having any problems recording 6-8 tracks at a time using FW1814 and PT m-powered?
If yes, what laptop are you using? I almost picked up a macbook pro this weekend, but they don't seem to be immune to these problems either, and I have a hard time justifying the additional cost.