post-reformat troubles

[BuddyWill]

Has anyone experienced major slowing issues after a 'restore to factory settings' was performed via ThinkVantage? It's my second reformat of the same and tasks with my windows XP Pro are taking up to 2 minutes to launch such as clicking on 'my computer' or launching other programs. I also cannot maintain a solid connection to the internet (wired or wireless) when it chooses to (maybe 5% of the time I'd be able to go online). Windows Task Manager shows 'system idle' nearly 96-99% all the time.

Only variable I think is that my BIOs was upgraded to the latest version (I kept up w all the windows/lenovo updates) and since the reformat rolled everything back, not sure if it caused any issues.

any ideas before I scrap this for a X200s? would love to salvage it regardless and hand it down to my family. it's a good machine.

ps: 3 years after my Z60m came in the mail, I decided to wipe my system clean and start from scratch. I had 2 rescue and recovery backups performed and both would never complete the final recovery using 'Final C' disk (strange, since Final C was also the first disk rescue and recovery needs). I then decided to restore to factory conditions reluctantly and are now running into major slowing down issues.