is there a limit to the number of additional widget areas that can be added through the theme?

through the theme options, i've successfully added a header widget area, but when i tried to add another for the center column, i lost the header widget area and the widget it contained tried to force itself into the center column widget space. the widget page had only one "blank." could that be what is limiting my additional widget areas?

i'm using 3.41, wordpress 2.8.1, and, among others, section widget 3.0.1 to control what appears where.

thanks for any help.

There should be no limit. It may be related to "Section Widget". Try if it works without that plugin