Hmm.. for some reason I didn't see this thread at all. Too busy with a final project for college.

Anyway, my recommendation would be either to a) Install a fresh 1.08 RM2k3 from the Downloads thread or b) get the patch to upgrade to 1.8.

I do wonder if RM2k3 is too much for your computer to handle (?) or whether you might have a lot of things running, taking up your CPU.