I cannot believe the amount of crud you have had to endure with this so called Hi end camera. SBIG should be hung drawn and quartered for producing this "lemon". It certainly appears as though there is an inherent design flaw, which considering the cost is totally un-acceptable.
Based on your experience with this camera, if I was going to purchase a high end CCD, I would most certainly be looking elsewhere. This is not to say that all their cams are inflicted with this problem, but it most certainly is enough to stop me thinking about purchasing one.
As usual, I fully expect some flack for my response, but that is nothing new. One most certainly should not have to put up with these issues when purchasing what is supposed to be one of the "Rolls Royce" of imaging cams