Here is another update,
It would seem my bridge failed. I added another bridge to test the 2 on board realtek gigabit cards which are 8110 series if memory serves. They didn't work under pfsense 1.2. Anyway, the first time I rebooted the router, the bridges lost their ip address and DHCP servers. I set them back up from the counsel and was able to get into the web gui but was unable to restore internet access. I'm not quite sure why that is but I would guess its a glitch unless that was what "pfil_member = 0 and pfil_bridge = 1 was suppose to do". To trouble shoot a bit more, I went back to a setting with a single bridge with network ports I knew should work. After the first reboot, the same thing happened.
Further more, with 2 bridges set up, my CPU was pegged. However, I cant blame this on the bridge or pfsense. I suspect that was a problem with the realtek network cards. Just so you know my setup, I'm running pfsense on a jetway j7f4e1g2. It has a via c7. In the pci slot, I'm running a dlink 4port 10/100 network card.
Out of curiosity, is there another place I should be posting this experience where it may be beneficial to the developers?
Anyway, I think I have had enough for one night. Frustration is starting to get the better of me. I'll keep watching this post and if any ideas strike me, I'll test them out and post my findings.
-V