Thanks a ton to all that responded.
The overall consensus is that the drive is dieing.
Since it is a lab system, then backup is not an issue
it has only the base 4.1.4 OS on it, no user accounts
are kept on it.
I will try as some suggested, format, and fsck but
I think it is not long for this world.
Thanks again for your valuable help.
-- Email: marcs@tdd.hbo.nec.com