My "base" combo has calls in both Init and Requery to a custom GetItems method. Code to populate goes into GetItems. I've never had any problem with this.

And if trying to implement it like this doesn't work, maybe Tamar can send you her machine {just to be clear, this is a joke}. I just love it when the response to a request for help is "Well it works on my machine". To which my response is "Then please send me your machine" :)