3ds Max :: Object Creation Colours Not Randomly Assigned

After installing SP2 for 3ds Max 2011 (Windows 7, 64-bit), whenever I create a new object, the colour swatch in the 'Name and Color' rollout is always white, however, the actual colour assigned to each newly created object is not white, but is the same for all objects created (seems to be a different choice of colour after each restart of Max). If I click the colour swatch, 'Assign Random Colors' is checked and I can manually assign a different colour to the object I've just created and the colour swatch is updated to reflect my choice. If I continue creating new objects, the same colour as initially applied is assigned and the colour swatch is again white. If I uncheck 'Assign Random Colors' and create new objects, the colour swatch is again white and the same colour as initially applied is used.