After XP finally loads in, every bit of the CPU is being gobbled up. under the Image of Taskmgr the SYSTEM is using every bit of it. Ran Symantec Corp 9 on hard disk and found nothing. Tried updating the BIOS. Re-installed XP over the existing directory with no solution. The other annoyance is that the box itself will not restart or shutdown.. you must hard boot it (manually hold power button down) to shut it off / or restart. If anyone has any other suggestions to what I could do short of throwing this box out of a window, please post up. i try.

Try to check which apps are using the most cpu or the most memory. If found, kill that app. Otherwise, if no clue is found, try re-install XP (do not use the Fast Format option) by first formatting the hard disk.

i swapped out video cards going from an Nvidia GF4 to ATI 9600. CPU usage went back to the norm. Put the GF4 back in and didn't have same problem as before. Although it doesn't explain why it caused this, or how a GPU would have any effect on the SYSTEM part, it does provide relief that i can actually use the box again. i try.

hmm ... very interesting. But, nevertheless, congratulation for the successfull troubleshooting, though it was a random shot. ;-)