true width:100%; divs, are they possible on myspace with IE?, Help appreciated :) Options

[xTHExDUDEx]

So, I'm having absolutely no fun trying to (yet again) baby step Internet Explorer through my layout. While Firefox is having no trouble at all stretching absolute divs to 100% width, Internet Explorer seems to treat it as relative anyway and so as far as I can make out is becoming stuck inside parent elements.

I guess what I'm asking is this: Is this a common problem and is there an IE hack readily available?

When I say IE, I mean IE7 specifically although I'd imagine IE6 and below behave the same.

Thank you very much for having a look, any help is appreciated!

Cheers!


Screens:

Firefox:


Internet Explorer 7:

[xTHExDUDEx]

This cannot result in the image being spanned 100% across any resolution as margin-left:10%; (or anything over 0) will always force any browser to push off the left side destroying the desired effect.

Thanks very much for trying help out all the same though.

I'm still in firm belief that the coding is sound and IE's syntax is differing from what I'm used to, being a FF and w3c fan...

Any other suggestions are more than welcomed, cheers!!


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


EDIT:

I thought of a possible IE7 hack, however it yielded some unexpected results...


Altered CSS:

CODE

.welcome_gradient {
position:absolute;
top:0%;
left:50%;
margin-left:-50%;
width:100%;
height:70px;
background-image:url(http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/990/colorgradient1xm1.gif);
background-position:top left;
background-repeat:repeat-x;
}

By using left:50%; and margin-left:-50%; Firefox remains no different as expected. IE7 produces this:



Any takers?