CS3 Gradient Tool is screwed up

Please forgive me if this has already been discussed. I searched, but couldn't find it.
I just recently began using the gradient tool, after learning its usefullness with masks. It worked fine for several weeks, but now I can't get it to work. I think I might have accidentaly changed default settings.
I dragged the pointer from left to right across the middle of the picture, but instead of going black to transparent (or transparent to black, I never can remember which way it goes), the top went clear & the bottom went dark. Note that foreground is white & background is black. When I change to foreground red & background blue (for instance) & draw the line at same place, the top is red & bottom is blue. If line is drawn top to bottom, left is red & right is blue.
What am I doing wrong?
Actually, I 1st tried to use this on a mask. When that didn’t work, I tried it on a “regular” layer. This isn’t the 1st time I’ve had this problem. It been consistently screwed up for several weeks now.
I tried “Reset Gradients”, but that didn’t fix anything. I also made sure that “Dither” & “Transparency” are checked, as they are on my laptop, which is working OK.
Most of my Photoshop work is pretty basic stuff, so please provide "basic" answers w/o "buzz words" that might be over my head.
Thanks

Note that foreground is white & background is black. When I change to foreground red & background blue (for instance) & draw the line at same place, the top is red & bottom is blue. If line is drawn top to bottom, left is red & right is blue.
Which gradient do you have selected anyway?

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