[K12OSN] cpu spikes killing me...

[Huck]

Preface--- K12LTSP 4.1.0
IceWM

Logins which used to take seconds(3 days ago), now take minutes...
and load firefox or open office or even a terminal now takes 30+ seconds...

ping times to server from client are 0.04ms(assuming it's not just 
pinging itself and not even going to/from the client)
when I run top and watch it based on CPU%...when any app opens up it 
eats up all available CPU time it seems
and even clicking the 'start' button for the menu and trying to navigate 
the menu tree to any available program takes forever as well
"forever defined as extremely unusable

I ran a yum upgrade to see if the issue was some older packages...but 
alas no luck.

If I enable gnome logins....the login process takes even longer...but 
the menu navigation is MUCH faster....although loading an application 
still takes a long time.

Students and library staff both breathing down my neck
Let me know if more info is needed to help

--Huck