slow login & su to root

My AMD 500, RH7.3 system seems to be slow when comparing it to my
laptop's 7.3 operation. On the AMD, once the password is in, it may take
30 sec or more beforeit starts up. I also see this when I su to root
from a terminal window. This is a server machine and I've loaded nearly
all of the stuff from the 3 CD's on it.

I didn't have this much of a delay when I had the Mandrake 8.1 distro on
it. I switched because I like the RH version better, maybe I shouldn't
have.

Just wonder if anyone has any ideas.

The laptop just has a workstation install, so perhaps that's part of it.