widgets assigned to pages keep jumping to other pages

we’ve come across a strange problem where the widgets assigned to the sidebars of existing pages get out of sync whenever we add *new* pages to the site. (the theme we are using provides widget boxes for each PAGE of the site in the widget management area)

to clarify; widgets – and their settings – assigned to a specific page ‘jump’ onto another (seemingly random) page when a new page is added to the site.

i don’t know if it’s a theme problem (i wrote to the OFT theme developer who said no-one else has reported this), or if it’s something more fundamental, or a slightly corrupted database.
everything else seems to be working ok.

it’s not doing it to *all* pages, just some of them, and it seems to be a little random (although hard to tell what it’s actually doing).

anyone else ever seen anything like this? any suggestions for fixes? if the database has got it’s page IDs muddled somewhere – anyone know a way of getting it to reset/recalibrate??

it happens if we just add a *new page*. we don’t have to visit the widget management page following the page addition to see the problem.