here is my problem. i added padding to my div and reduced the div height accordingly. all browsers except IE7 will render it properly (no surprise...). I have tried a conditional comment to add more padding but it doesnt help one bit.

#contentLargeLeft
{
position:absolute;
padding: 15px 20px 0px 42px;
top:222px;
width:438px;
height:308px;
background-image:url(images/cloud.jpg);
background-repeat:no-repeat;
}

I have tested it on Safari, Firefox 3, Opera, IE8 Beta and IE7 - all but the latter work ok. I have had this problem before but i am stumped as to how to fix it. Adding more padding does not help.
adam, tried that with padding-top: instead of height and it does nothing sadly. is there anything else microsoft require to get padding to work?
hi littlegraywolf - the height of the div physically is 323px and ive already reduced it by the 15 pixels, hence why its 308. ive fixed this before which is why it is so frustrating! i think ill give that method a try soon, im losing my patience with microsofts buggy browsers.
excellent answers all round guys, adam - yours worked a treat in the end after i implemented it correctly. and littlegraywolf - its a tip ive learned and i can use in the future.

much appreciated folks thank you!