ubuntu 8.04 samba issues

Running Ubuntu 8.04
I replaced a motherboard (not sure if this is a factor???) -- I had an issue with the network card, this has been corrected.  I had to install new drivers --
I installed the latest patches, there were 394 of them
As a result of the issue below, I have uninstalled and reinstalled Samba (I did not delete the directory)

At boot the screen gets stuck at "Starting Samba daemons" for about 10-15 minutes.
It will then continue to boot.

When the GUI is starting, before the icons appear, after about 3-5 minutes, I receive a message:
**********************
"There was an error starting the GNOME Settings Daemon.

Some things, such as themes, sounds, or background settings may not work correctly.

The last error message was:

Did not receive a reply. Possible causes include: the remote application did not send a reply, the message bus security policy blocked the reply, the reply timeout expired, or the network connection was broken.

GNOME will still try to restart the Settings Daemon next time you log in."
**********************

Everything seems to run fine, less Samba
I can ping the station, but cannot access the shares.
After the GUI starts I run:
sudo /etc/init.d/samba start
 * Starting Samba daemons                                                [ OK ]  
(This starts right away.)
I can now see the shares, but not access them.  Explorer will get "stuck" trying to open the folder. The next time I try to open //server, I cannot see the shares.

I the run:
sudo /etc/init.d/samba stop
 * Stopping Samba daemons                                                [ OK ]
sudo /etc/init.d/samba start
 * Starting Samba daemons                                                [ OK ]
sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart
 * Stopping Samba daemons                                                [ OK ]
 * Starting Samba daemons                                                [ OK ]
(These all run right away, but I cannot access any shares, or see them)

Sometimes, when I run this I get:
sudo /etc/init.d/samba restart
 * Stopping Samba daemons
start-stop-daemon: warning: failed to kill 5093: No such process
                                                                         [ OK ]
 * Starting Samba daemons                                                [ OK ]
(This process will take about 5-10 minutes)

When this happens, the shares function as normal, and will work fine until a reboot.
If I reboot, the sequence will act the same again.