windows install/run extremely slow

[Ratedr]

I formatted my fathers Dell computer because he has had it for 3 years,

never defragged it, never cleaned it up, etc..so I decided to start
from the beginning. When I went to install windows xp pro, all of a
sudden what said 39 minutes, took about 6 hrs to install! each minute
was like 20+ minutes in real time. Then when it was finally installed
and I started the computer, it took about 45 minutes for windows to
fully load?!? Every program I try to open, takes forever. I loaded
it in safe mode to see, but same thing!
Has anyone heard of this or can offer any possible solutions to this
problem

 

[Ratedr]

sorry but to add to this (and this might help) everytime I boot my
computer now, it says primary hard disk not found! but it is there,
and when I go to setup in the cmos it finds it. could there be
something with this that might be causing a problem?

 

[bud]

I formatted my fathers Dell computer because he has had it for 3 years,

never defragged it, never cleaned it up, etc..so I decided to start
from the beginning. When I went to install windows xp pro, all of a
sudden what said 39 minutes, took about 6 hrs to install! each minute
was like 20+ minutes in real time. Then when it was finally installed
and I started the computer, it took about 45 minutes for windows to
fully load?!? Every program I try to open, takes forever. I loaded
it in safe mode to see, but same thing!
Has anyone heard of this or can offer any possible solutions to this
problem

Did you install XP pro from disks provided by dell? There may be proprietary
drivers needed from dell for the installation to work right when you
reinstall.