Lightroom :: Importing Files Into 4.1 (Windows) Stopped Working

I am no longer able to import any new files into Lightroom.  I was in the middle of an import and all of a sudden it stopped and the program hung.  I am running Win 7 64 with an i7 with 12 gigs of RAM. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling Lightroom multiple times (Using both the windows installer and via Lightroom and then searched to see if there were any orpne files on my drive.  ) , did a system restore to a point about a month ago, tried importing a simple jpeg file from the hard drive as well as CR2 files (Canon) and even DNG files.  Also tried setting up a new catalog with no success.  Plenty of hard drive space and no drive errors. There is nothing wrong with the files as I can open them in Photoshop.  I can see the files on the import screen though they are not always rendered. When I choose import it just starts, says Importing files and hangs. When I finally give up, and I have waited an hour or more, and kill the process I get the message - No photos or videos were found to import. Other tidbits.   Takes a long time to be able to select files to import from the import screen.  System seems to run for some time before I can select or deselect (If this were a Mac it would show a beach ball during this wait)   Each time I quit or try to change catalogues it asks for the weekly backup (my default) even though I backed it up sometimes as recently as within the past 10 minutes and those backups appear to be valid and in the directory. Every other feature, including Export seems to work I just can no longer import files.