Thanks for your reply... :)

I just cleared out all the running processes related to speedy cgi and mysql and restarted the mysql server about an hour ago. There are now already 6 instances running again... some are sub processes of other processes.

I also switched back to not using speedy_cgi to free up some memory. This is a temporary solution while I try to figure out what is wrong. The server has gone down 2-3 times over the past week, and I just realized today that it was probably due to the lack of memory.

I am also using mysql with a forum, and I think it may be causing the multiple instances... I'm going to look into that.

Thanks again for your help.