Just read another thread on XP/Poser 5 stability problems - there's definitely an issue here (is anyone at Curious Labs listening?), one user said that if he runs Poser 5 in Windows 2000 compatability mode he has no problems, I'll be giving this a go.

Are you running Windows XP, I think this may be a Poser 5/XP issue although thus far in my enquiries with Curious Labs they've dodged the issue either by suggesting I should render my scene/s in separate parts (e.g. render vicki 3 and her clothes and hair separately) or use lower res. textures, or simply by suggesting it's DAZ's problem because their models are too complex. I have a similar spec. system (Athlon XP 2200+, 2x80GB hard drives in a striped RAID, RADEON 9500PRO, 1.5GB of memory and 2.5GB of pagefile on a separate partition) and I've had the same problem even working with much smaller scenes but with highest detail turned on in the firefly renderer. I think Curious Labs need a bit more pressure applied to provide a serious response to this issue.