Cannot save changes to a contact.

Cannot save changes to a contact.

I am having problems associating a contact with an account. 
 
I opened the contact, chose to edit the account field, and looked up the account name in the pop-up window without any problems.  But when I click save, the system becomes non-responsive, and the changes are not saved to the record. 
 
I can see a green loading wheel appear next to the "Contact Details" page header, which continues to turn for the full 5 minutes I waited for the system to respond.  The bottom left corner of internet exporer also shows "Errors on the page" only after I click save.
 
Let me know if there is something I can do to fix this or if it is just a temporary bug. 
 
Thanks.