Slow Computer

[NUFC_4_EVA]

I dont know what has happened but the othe day when i turned on my computer it took about 20 mins to start up fully. It was stuck on the windows desktop background with no icons or start menu bar for about 10 of those 20. When it does eventually get to the desktop the computer is running unbelievably slow, even just clicking on start seems to take it 2 mins for it to load the menu

The hard drive (at least i think its the hard drive) seems to be constantly doing something with noises coming from it permanently the sort of thing which would usually happen when i was loading up a game or any sort of program. At first i thought one of the 128MB memory modules had blown but from looking at the computers BIOS it still says 512MB. So basically i can only think that it is a software issue, i havent had alot of time to fiddle with it but any advice on this subject is greatly appreciated

Cheers
NUFC

System Specs:

Dell Dimension 8200 (Year 2000)
1.9GHz Pentium 4
512MB RD RAM
80GB HDD
Windows XP Home SP2
Nvidea 256MB 5700LE

[glc]

Run Dell diagnostics. The hard drive may be going bad.

[Mesaeus]

Check the System log for disk errors. Windows XP has the nasty habit of lowering the disk speed to very slow after a sufficient number of disk read errors have happened. You can check the current speed under Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager/IDE ATA-ATAPI Controllers/Primary Channel/Advanced Settings. There should be a line with the current speed. Ultra DMA mode 5 or 6 is good, PIO mode is bad.