MM 2.1 freezes during capture

I have a brand new 3 ghz P4, with 1 G of ram and a builtin firewire port. I
am running Win XP sp2 updated. I have McAfee Viruscan disabled.

When I try to capture video from my JVC Digital Video Camcorder, the capture
process freezes after a few seconds but the camera keeps playing. It does
the same in Arcsoft Showbiz and reports unknown file format. I can capture
on my old dog computer (but can't burn due to DVD rw failure).

Any thoughts on why capture files?

Byron