As a follow up to the original issue, I have approached this from every direction (hardware, software, etc). When I install 5.3.1, everything works perfectly fine. If I do a full un-install of 5.3.1, reboot the computer, and then install 5.5......the system crashes. If I then uninstall 5.5, reboot the machine, and install 5.3.1 again.....everything works fine. I have done this multiple times, all with the same outcome. I still can't come to a conclusion as to why this happens. I'm fine to run 5.3.1 at this point, but will have to dig deeper in the future as I have new machines coming in.
Thanks again for all of your thoughts.....