Combo Box Auto Expand

I've got a form which includes a combo box. The combo box has an input mask.
0000&00\_00\_00\_00\_000\_&;;_k) I'm not sure what the
;;_K) means

The mask is bound to a field with just the raw data, but the first field
DISPLaYED is the same as the bound field, but it has underscores imbedded to
match the mask. The who purpose of the mask is to make a number like
123123123123 look like 123_123_123_123 for easier validation. There are no
underscores in the actual data. The data is just the numbers. The view has
underscores.

When I tab into the field, everything seems fine.
When I type i the first character in the field - the first available value
begininning with that character in input into the field and the entire value
is highlighted and the cursor is all the way to the right of the field. This
typically is NOT the value I want in the field. Now - I have to delete what
is in the field and start typing all over again.

Prior to about 2 weeks ago - this combo box worked fine - type the 7 and
you'd see everything starting with 7, then type 2 and you'd see everything
starting with 72, etc. This is happening on all my servers. I went back to
a backup version of about 3 months ago - and the problem still happens. This
behavior was not happening 3 months ago - so I think something had to change
with Access 2003 or with Windows.

I've been trying to resolve this on my own for a couple of weeks. Now both
me and my users are frustrated. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanx in advance!

Always OopenTo Suggestions