I think you are right about the lights. I took "stewers" suggestion and started eliminating some of the actors from my scene and Fire Fly moved beyond the point where it was hanging up: which was the "render shadow map>adding objects" for the first light in my scene. I think by simplifying the scene, therefore the shadows, for light 1 that allowed it to move forward. I'm going to explore this a little further and see if I can narrow it down more. I'm also going to upgrade my video card now that faster ones are available.