Yes all of the above except adding a space to the web.config file, however since I have full control of the server(s) I recycled the app pool, restarted the web site and rebooted the server for good measure (good thing this server isn't a production server ).  But the result has remained the same.  Weird

But thanks for the reply

Russ

Performance settings are straight out of the box generic default,  I have not changed those at all.

Russ

Well after waiting a few days to see if it was a cache issue or some such related problem and it still causing the same issue.  I removed the skin, then logged in changed the setting in the control panel from layout to edit, put the skin back in place and worked fine. 

So where is the veiw mode for admin/superuser being stored?  This would be a nice handy piece of information to have in case this were to happen again, much easier to change the view mode setting than remove the skin, login change the view mode restore the skin.

Russ