yum dies for install and check-update but vlean all works

[jgibbons]

Whenever I run yum it goes away for a long time, sucks up resources, and tehn dies horribly. Below are more details:

What works:
yum clean all

What fails:
yum install <package>
yum install -C <package>
yum check-update
yum search <package>

yumex fails while it is trying to "populate package sack for development"

Installed:
yum-2.5.1-2
yumex-0.99.3-1.0.fc5
yum-utils-0.3.1-1.fc5
rpm-build-4.4.2-15
rpm-devel-4.4.2-15
rpm-libs-4.4.2-15
rpm-4.4.2-15
rpm-python-4.4.2-15

A sample error:
yum check-update
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Setting up Install Process
Setting up repositories
development 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00
extras-dev: ################################################## 2/2
extras-development 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00
Reading repository metadata in from local files
primary.xml.gz 100% |=========================| 1.2 MB 00:09
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/bin/yum", line 29, in ?
yummain.main(sys.argv[1:])
File "/usr/share/yum-cli/yummain.py", line 97, in main
result, resultmsgs = do()
File "/usr/share/yum-cli/cli.py", line 464, in doCommands
return self.installPkgs()
File "/usr/share/yum-cli/cli.py", line 827, in installPkgs
self.doRepoSetup()
File "/usr/share/yum-cli/cli.py", line 74, in doRepoSetup
self.doSackSetup(thisrepo=thisrepo)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/__init__.py", line 282, in doSackSetup
self.repos.populateSack(which=repos)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/repos.py", line 288, in populateSack
dobj = repo.cacheHandler.getPrimary(xml, csum)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/sqlitecache.py", line 96, in getPrimary
return self._getbase(location, checksum, 'primary')
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/sqlitecache.py", line 83, in _getbase
(db, dbchecksum) = self.getDatabase(location, metadatatype)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/sqlitecache.py", line 79, in getDatabase
db = self.makeSqliteCacheFile(filename,cachetype)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/sqlitecache.py", line 239, in makeSqliteCacheFile
self.createTablesPrimary(db)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/sqlitecache.py", line 150, in createTablesPrimary
self.createDbInfo(cur)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/sqlitecache.py", line 188, in createDbInfo
cur.execute("""CREATE TABLE db_info (
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/sqlite/main.py", line 237, in execute
self.con._begin()
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/sqlite/main.py", line 515, in _begin
self.db.execute("BEGIN")
MemoryError
no mem for new parser
Error in atexit._run_exitfuncs:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/atexit.py", line 24, in _run_exitfuncs
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/plugins.py", line 157, in run
MemoryError
Error in sys.exitfunc:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/atexit.py", line 24, in _run_exitfuncs
func(*targs, **kargs)
File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/yum/plugins.py", line 157, in run
conduitcls = eval(conduitcls) # Convert name to class object
MemoryError

Tried:
yum clean all
deleting __db.00? from /var/lib/rpm/

HELP!!!!!

Thanks