re-post Nautilus missbehaving

[squareyes]

Hi all,
am having problems with Nautilus, opens my home folder OK, then on first 
use freezes, and stops displaying files in it.
Shutting it down from the "not responding message, only results in it 
opening again, empty, again and again,
not showing any files, and it is now using nearly 100% of processor. 
Killing it with "Force Quit"
from Gnome panel, results in it re-opening still empty, and still using 
100% of processor.
Killing it with gps same. After killing it 3-4 times Desktop freezes,  
can fix freeze with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace.
Another strange thing, when the computer goes into powerdown mode after 
10 minutes, on reviving it, It
displays panel to enter password as the screen is now locked. I have 
"black screen set as screensaver.
Does this sound like I may have a hardware problem?

Any suggestions appreciated, thanks in advance.
take Care
Winton