unfortunately neither of those suggestions are the problem either....
i really appreciate the help Frida.... i was hoping that someone would eventually stumble upon my post and have an answer... but it seems like everyone is as confused by this as i am. (im fearing a clean install of os X is my only option at this point..... is there anyway to install an older version of os X without wiping out my program installs?)
thanks for trying to help me out though, i appreciate the time and effort
