YIKES! "Searching" & Spotlight not finding

Question

OK, I'm scared. I copy the name of a file. I do a Cmd + F and paste the name of the file into the "Search for" field. Nothing. I have only one criteria, "Kind" "Any" I ask to search the directory it's in. No response. I remove and add the directory to the parameters continually. No response.
Spotlight not finding it either.
I try others. Same thing. Spotlight preferences are factory default and include "Music."
I have two files with the string I am looking for, one in a directory on my hard drive, not locked, I read and write to it daily. The other file is on a CD.
I ask to search both places. Spotlight finds the string on the CD but not on my hard drive. I started trying other files in other directories and I'm getting the same thing in the Finder Search. Spotlight not as bad, but still has problems.
This string is "stoddard." The file on the drive is actually located in two different directories and is labeled "1.01_stoddard.mp3" The one that it does find on the CD is "AUGUST 6 STODDARD.mp3"
Help me. This is scaring me. I've got tons of people I am converting to Mac. This is not going to go over well.
I've been looking and I just can't find any options or parameters I should be checking that would affect this. This is pretty simple stuff.
I tried looking for envelope.rtf which is in a completely different directory and Search did not find it though Spotlight did.
-Wm

Answer 1

My results are disturbing. My eMac G4 doesn't seem to have a problem with finding files. My G5 definitely does. And it has a few other funny glitches, like a couple of my Mail filters are wonky. I've set up hundreds of them and there are three that are just plain stuck and send the mail to unexpected places or don't filter at all.
Since the Spotlight glitch is intermittent, I don't think we can set up any benchmarks between us. Because Spotlight might not find envelope.rtf on my system, doesn't mean it won't find the filename on yours.
What you need to do is search for various files on your system and see if Spotlight finds them.
I doubt this is a string recognition problem, it's likely a search program error at the processor level. Probably something to do with the logic that makes the search appear speedy. Likely there's something in that programming that "falls out" when G5 is processing.
Apple is ****-bent on getting the G6 out there pronto. These anomalies may be why.
-Wm
Your results are strange.
If I try using your "1.01_stoddard.mp3" filename I
find the file with the Spotlight menu, the Spotlight
window and a smart folder.
If I delete the file, then search for it again
"1.01_stoddard.mp3" it is, of course not found, then
I create a new file and rename it to
"1.01_stoddard.mp3" Spotlight finds it immediately.
Do you want to try to debug this here in the
discussion?
multi  
Mac OS X (10.4.3)  
www.DiscoverYourMac.com
iMac G5 iSight 20" 2g RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.3)   eMac 700, iMac slot, original iMac, PowerMac.
iMac G5 iSight 20" 2g RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.3)   eMac 700, iMac slot, original iMac, PowerMac.
iMac G5 iSight 20" 2g RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.3)   eMac 700, iMac slot, original iMac, PowerMac.