Very big problem with my computer

Hi guys I've been here for a while just don't post alot. I have a Dell Dimension, Pentium 4 2.80 Ghz, 512 MB ram, and Windows Xp SP2.

Originally my computer was going rather slow, I thought i had a virus maybe so i tried system restore, and when the comp booted back it up it was going TERRIBLY slow, it took over an hour to fully boot back up, and was CONSTANTLY at 100% cpu usage, and opening internet explorer could take up to 20 minutes. I thought something must have gone wrong, so i got my windows xp cd to reformat and reinstall, and it just kept freezing before the install even started. I tried a few other xp Cd's ALL kept freezing, so i resorted to install Linux (Linux uses less ram anyways, so maybe my problem would be fixed)

The ubuntu live cd wouldn't start ubuntu after a whole hour, so i popped in my linspire cd (another dist. of Linux) and it took around 7 hours to fully format the hdd install (as apposed to maybe 40 minutes). So i was happy that it was finally done, but guess what? Even with a linux distribution like this built for computers with 128 mb of ram, it took a WHOLE HOUR just to boot, and on top of that was using 100% of my cpu.

I know its not a virus now, so im guessing something could have happened to the HDD and it reading and writing VERY slowly, after the system resotre? I need your help guys! thanks

 

You might have a bad motherboard or other problem. Do you have an old motherboard you can try out.

If the hard drive was bad it just wouldn't work. But you can try a different one to rule it out.

Did you ever get any input/output errors when writing to the hard drive? Those usually point to a bad motherboard.

I know if you have something go bad on the motherboard it will comsume 100 cpu. I had the onboard audio chip go bad on my motherboard and that slowed everything down, cpu was at 100 percent even with no programs in the background.