Hi guys,
I did in fact go to Newegg.for the card. Amazon was identical but wanted more shipping, thus Newegg. I'm hoping this will be the culprit 'cause it's on it's way. At the time I installed my OS, I installed the same OS, with the same disc, in my wife's Inspiron 537s. Her's has none of these problems and works fine. Of course her's may not be a builder, but it is 4 years newer. Once again, got my fingers crossed.
I know XP is overdue to die but it really saddens me. it is so darn reliable,dependable and fixable all the time. For all the daily "little things" we use every day, W7 just doesn't compare. I do, however, find that swtiching to Firefox makes a MAJOR improvement. I always keep the "big three" [IE, F/fox, Chrome] installed and at the ready in all my desktops. If one acts up, can switch over in about 3 seconds. Helps as a diagnostic tool also.
Thanks to you all.
T'care,
Mike