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[alex]

Problem solved.  It was my ubuntu installation disk. 

When I learned that an acquaintence had no problem with his ubuntu, I 
asked to borrow his disk.  I replaced my ubunto installation with his 
disk and ubuntu ran fine.  Later, I examined my disk and discovered an 
almost invisible speck which I scraped off with my fingernail and now my 
disk did its job perfectlly.   At this point, ubuntu seems to perform 
the way it should..

The strange thing is, my original installations seemed to be normal.  
Apparently, that tiny speck didn't prevent the installation but it did 
affect the performance.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

alex