Vista - USB storage devices cause Windows Ultimate X64 to Freeze/hard lock

Hardware:
MSI K9A Platinum BIOS 1.7
2GB Corsair DDR2-800 5-5-5-18-2T
AMD AM2 6000+
Creative X-Fi Fatality
2 Diamond HD2900XT's

This board has the AMD crossfire chipset. If I hook up any USB storage device Windows Vista Ultimate x64 instantly hard locks. I then have to power off the PSU and wait 60 seconds before I can turn the computer back on. The power switch will be completely unresponsive until I do this.

If I have the USB storage device on and then boot up it will hard lock before I can reach the login screen. I can repeat this behavior.

I can also cause 5 to 10 minute delays during the Vista install by having a USB storage device attached. The slow downs occur during the initial menus.

Has anyone else seen this problem? This behavior does not occur under Windows XP. It has to be a problem between Vista and something on this motherboard. I also noticed AMD/ATI has never bothered to update the chipset drivers. I find it very hard to believe they are perfect and don't need any fixes.

I am already using the latest BIOS. Actually the problem occurs with 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7.

If I do a fresh install of Vista with a USB storage device attached everything seems fine at first. Then after a few reboots the hard lock shows up. I did extensive testing here. I logged the order in which things were installed/applied. Drivers, patches, etc. I removed all but the necessary component of one video card. Once the first hard lock occurs, any USB storage device causes the instant hardlock. Unplugging the device does not unfreeze the computer.

Now to further confuse the problem....There is a 1/100 chance that plugging in a new USB storage device won't immediately cause the hard lock. Once I try to access it, BAM!

If I take out the sound card and use a PCI USB controller, I can use all the USB storage devices to my hearts content. I refuse to take out the sound card though and have no free slots. I'm one of the lucky few who can use the Creative X-Fi in Vista without errors. I switched to the onboard audio to test the PCI USB solution.