...

All of which settles down and stops anywhere form 30 minutes to 2 hours after a boot up.

Pardon me for jumping on the thread late.... Is this a USB keyboard? If so, do you have a USB drive or USB nic or other high volume usb device?

I've seen this kind of thing before when there are high volume usb devices sharing usb headers with other devices.

No problem :-) I appreciate any suggestions... It is a USB keyboard, but I have it plugged into the PS/2 port with the USB-PS/2 adapter. The only USB devices that are plugged in at the moment are: - USB mouse (Logitech) - Logitech USB headset - Card reader with no cards attached/plugged in I have other USB devices (USB hard drive, Canon scanner, etc) but none of them are currently plugged in... so... the only thing to remove at this point are the headset and the cardreader - both of which have been always connected (when the system was working correctly and now when it's broken - they weren't added into the equation.. they've always been there). I've had some off list suggestions... to check hdparm and see what mode the hard drives are running in, to check my drive cables (possible faulty cable - although I'd expect "Drive not ready seek" errors if this was the case), and to check the smartd to see if it's misbehaving. I will check into them later today.. .meanwhile... I'm still open to any other ideas or suggestions. C. -- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com