I wish I could minniemick. But bein technically inept's another of me many talents.
All I can think of is to reload yer drivers - you shoud have got driver discs with the packagin when you got the PC.
I don't know if runnin ScanDisk and Defragmenter (in Accessories in yer Start programmes) might help fix a problem but it shouldn't so any good (remember to disable any screensavers first).
I hope someone comes along to sort yer problem soon.