DropdownList-ViewState problem

[Winista]

I have a weired situation with dropdownlist in ASP.Net2.0

Its a simple DDL which binds to a dataset. In Page_Load DDL is bound to the
dataset. Binding only done on first load and not during PostBack. there are
3 more text boxes on the page, one file upload control and then a submit
button.
Page loads fine, DDL is popultaed. I select an entry from DDL, fill other
text boxes, specify file to upload and then hit submit button. In the event
handler for button, I do not see any items in DDL, no selected index, no
selected value.. absolutely nothing. So I don't do any processing and let it
go. And when page comes up after PostBack, DDL is empty.

I have a prototype project that mimics the same interaction and work flow.
It works like a charm, DDL is loaded properly after postback and selected
index is fine too in event handler. Only difference between prototype page
and actual application page is that the actual page is little busy with
menus on left and top, footer, header etc.

Any similar known issues??

thanks