*edit - seems that it was a sound card daughterboard. At the angle i was working I couldn't even see the darn thing. Systems seems to be booting fine after it was removed.
I have just installed Core5. After the second reboot after configuring firewall, time and such the system reboots but hangs righ after "Checking for hardware changes". i get the OK it then drops to the next line then locks. I decided to remove the TV tuner card in hopes that maybe that was causing the hang but it made no difference. Any suggestions.. i'm pretty much a n00b at Linux.