Dimension 5000 runnning very slowly

Sounds like a heat issue. CPU may be throttling its speed down to prevent it from frying.

Are you sure all fans, including inside the power supply, are clean and working, and all case air vents are clean?

Reboot and press F12 before Windows starts to load. Go to Utilities partition and run the CPU fan tests. Replace the fan, if it fails. You'll need to buy a Dell fan because they have a sensor that's seen by BIOS.

You may need to remove the heatsink and clean off the old thermal paste. Then apply a thin coating of Arctic Silver (or similar) according to the package instructions and reinstall the heatsink. You can skip the part about removing the processor from its socket. And you only need a small tube of thermal paste which should be more than enough for multiple uses. Get it online or at a local PC store.

Could also be a failing heat sink, but try new thermal paste before thinking about replacing the heat sink...

Thanks for your help. I suspect that you are right about the CPU throttling down the speed because of overheating.

I have pressed F12 as instructed - unfortunately I am getting a message telling me that I have no Utility partition.

If the inside is dusty, I'd suggest cleaning it out with a can of compressed air. The front bezel should be removed during this process, as dust can build up in there as well.

I came into possession of a 2350 a few years back, and it took a good half an hour to clean out the dust and fluff that had clogged its airflow. In retrospect, it's surprising something didn't fail due to heat buildup.

If you have it, you can run the diagnostics from the Dell Drivers and Utilities CD. Put the CD in the drive and then reboot. Press F12 and select "Boot from CD".

Come to think of it, if the innards are dust-free, the problem may be malware. Are you able to get out to Windows Update site and anti-virus sites like Symantec's?

OK, I have checked all the issues involved:

     - Spyware  - can be ruled out as neither Malwarebytes nor SuperAntispyware found ihfections.

     - Fan - I have also run the Fan Test from the CD and it passed

       (n.b.: problem with the Utilities CD is that sometimes it requires user input but both mouse and keyboard seem to  be disabled!)

      - Dust - gave applied air duster. PC much quieter but still v slow.

FWIW Defraggler defragging app displays Disk Health as good and temp of processor as 35 degrees.

I have spoken to a local computer repairer and he says he has seen a glut of DELL machines lately of this age which are suffering form motherboard failure.

He reckons it is almost certainly the case here.

If you're using a wireless mouse and keyboard, their drivers likely don't load when you boot from the CD so they won't work.

How are you  measuring CPU temp? Most software to measure CPU temps won't work on Dell PCs.

What's running the background? Have you looked in Task Manager to see if some process (aside from System Idle) is hogging the CPU? Things like Windows Indexing Service can really bog things down. Antiviral scans etc can also do that.

A corrupted video driver might also cause these types of problems, including stuttering audio. So you might also want to uninstall the current video driver in Device Manager and reinstall a fresh download of the latest compatible driver, which you can download from the manufacturer's site, eg ATI or nVidia. It might also be a good idea to run Driver Cleaner Pro (free) before installing the new video driver to get rid of the junk that gets left behind when a video driver is uninstalled. Read and follow DCP directions carefully.

And reseat the video card in its slot.

Have you run Dell diagnostics on the hard drive and RAM from that CD and then chkdsk from the Recovery Console? How much free hard drive space is available?

I cannot see any other way  to use the Utilities on the Resources CD than to boot from it. I do have a Dell>Accessories item on my Programs menu but this just instructs me how to hoot from the CD! Is there some way I can install it so that I can run it from the hard disk and thus regain the use of input devices?

I have meanwhile uninstalled the drivers for the Radeon X300 series video card and used Disk cleaner as suggested, to clear all traces of the driver out.

It has not resolved the sound issue.  

Computer repair guy made a preliminary inspection and now thinks it is _not_ a hardware issue. He says it could be a  virus as there has been no System Restore point set for over three weeks - apparently a sign of an infection. I am now running a full scan.

I have not yet had time to run chkdsk and the Memory Test but will be  doing so when I can. Ditto reseating the video card when I have finished running other tests,

The reapir guy also ruled out overheating as a cause- although it seems it was an issue until I cleaned the dust out.  

My thoughts are that a clean install of Windows 7 OEM is going to be cheaper and more effective than a repair technician where malware is concerned.

A clean install, followed by applying all patches and updates, and then followed by installation of an AV package like the free Microsoft Security Essentials, should deal with a rootkit.

In addition to the software, you'll want 1gb of RAM (if you don't already have it). The x300 video card is sufficient for Windows 7, but a newer model (which can be had for $25) would be preferable.

You can also go to spyhammer to get free help detecting and removing malware.  The experts over there used to staff Dell's Malware Removal forum, but Dell decided to abandon that free service earlier this year.

Be sure to read What do I do first? at spyhammer for instructions how to post the files they'll need to check your system. And include your PC model, version of Windows and the symptoms in your first post. Also mention you were referred to spyhammer from the Dell forum and you'll get great help.

XP is much more vulnerable to malware and in fact is targeted by criminal gangs for that reason. With computer crime soaring, it may be a good time to take advantage of a Newegg sale (7 Home Premium OEM for $85 and free shipping).

Microsoft is trying to choke off XP, already over ten years old, and IE 6, and in April 2014 support will be dropped completely.

Thanks - are we saying this is definitely a spyware infection now?

Neither malware nor antivirus scans turned up a single infection.

I will try Spyhammer anyway - thanks for the tip.

Will a Dimension 5000 run Windows 7 comnfortably?  

I can't say if it's malware or not, but if spyhammer gives you a clean bill of health then you've elminated that possibility and you'll have to look at Windows and/or hardware.

Did you consider my suggestion to apply fresh thermal paste to rule out CPU throttling because of excess heat?

Hi Enigmaman,

If you register with the same username at SpywareHammer that you use here, I can approve it and see that you are helped in a timely manner. When you post there, it would be good if you include a link to this topic at Dell. That way, the trained help there won't repeat what you've already done. Best of luck in getting your issue resolved.

Hi,  have registered with Spyhammer and the scan is running now. I will post the log file when it is completed.

I didn't apply the thermal paste in the end as I suspect that the overheating issue  was resolved simply by applying an air duster. The fan no loner runs continuously and the PC is significantly quicker than when I first posted this issue. No doubt removing some unused programmes has also helped.  

The issue now is the sound. I wonder whether a new soundcard might solve it and meanwhile I am going to delete and reinstall the drivers.  

To get back to an earlier post, I have not run chkdsk but Disk health is shown as "Good" by Defraggler (the disk is < two years old).