Does you motherboard have a VIA chipset?

No, it's an Intel 845PE chipset.
The motherboard is two months old (an Aopen AX4PE Max) so I don't think that either chipset or bios is the problem here.

Also, I hadn't installed any driver when this happened. I created the partitions on the drive, installed win2k, formatted the partitions and started copying those mp3's. The system really can't get more driverless.

I've never owned a mobo with a Via chipset and I never will because of all the problems that may occur with them.

Also, one hint I've heard from a friend concerning those 4-in-1 drivers : when you install them, DON'T install them with the "turbo" settings. (which is the standard setting). Allegedly those drivers are a lot more stable when the "standard" settings are used.