I've done that a few times, things still freeze up.
I'm considering re-installing AH2 to see if that helps, this just smells like one of those computer hiccups that noone can explain, and anyone can fix by beating the monitor or whatever;)
...if it hadn't been for that other guy(see link in the first post) having the same problem.
I've had the skin working before, but after the last patches, it went sour.
But it is odd...