login troubles (password prompt is slow to appear)

[RF]

Hello,

I'm new to FreeBSD and am trying to work on a remote server.  I started 
out with 5.2, but it was a NIGHTMARE trying to install the combination 
of software I want, because certain ports didn't work, certain packages 
didn't work, and I had to use older versions than what I wanted 
sometimes.  In configuring the system, I had to reinstall Python.  From 
that moment on I have had the following problem:

Connecting via SSH displays the login prompt immediately, but after 
typing a username it takes between 30 seconds to 60+ for the password 
prompt to appear.  Sometimes Putty times out waiting for a connection.

Blaming 5.2 for my problems, I had the drive wiped and 4.9 installed... 
and the password prompt still takes forever to appear.  Anyone know 
what's going on?  I heard something about FreeBSD doing a DNS on every 
connecting IP and that adding my IP (which is unfortunately not static) 
to  etc/hosts would bypass the lookup... but it still takes a long time.

For about 2 weeks before I screwed up the system, I could SSH in with no 
problems.  What's odd is that a fresh install of 4.9 is doing the same 
thing.

Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

Rockford