MYSQL running 99% of CPU for more that 3min

[Elena C]

Folks,

I have Mysql db server (4.0.12-nt) running on Windows 2000 partition that is 
actually a VMWare - ESX Server virtual machine.
This VMWare machine has 524Mb of Ram allocated.
The set of the databases on this server is minimal, and my.cnf values are 
set to "my.small" file.
Nevertheless the db server stalls a couple of times a week with the system 
running up to 99% of CPU resources for mysqld alone for more than 3 min, and 
mysql service has to be restarted.
I am trying to determine the cause of this. One of my "guesses" is that the 
network connection to this machine is notoriously slow, and there are 
network delays.

Does anyone know of mysql system issues that relate to the network outages? 
What happens if the query is issued to mysql server and the network 
connection terminates at that point - (the result set that suppose to be 
sent back to the client does not reach the client)?
Sincerely,
Elena.