Go for it.  Let us know how it does.

  I will follow your instructions, thanks.

  Fireberd, So, I went back and re-read your posts. I will try to re-install the Dell drivers that you suggested before wiping the drive. I agree...take a little more time and try to get it to work. Maybe disabling some USB hubs, as suggested on another forum. But, most importantly, I will re-install the Dell drivers and Laptop System SW. I think I can go to Dell and type in my Service Tag number and they will list all the drivers and then I can go thru and install them one at a time. This might help or not. Thanks.

Reinstalling and then "wiping" the disc won't do you any good.  When you reformat the hard drive everything is lost.  You start off with a "clean slate". 

You can download whatever you need from Dell and either burn them to a disc or to a USB flash drive for installing later after you install Win 7.  You may not need everything as Win 7 will install a lot of drivers, however, you will need at a minimum the Dell sound driver.  Check what is and isn't working before installing the various Dell drivers. 

DO NOT use the Dell download manager, download each needed driver individually.  The download manager has lots of problems.

  I understand that. I will first try to update any Dell drivers to get the current system to work. Then if this fails I will move forward with a new install and, of course, follow your instructions to save drivers to a thumb drive and install after the OS installs. Sorry for any confusion and thanks again.

As Fireberd say's download all the dell 32 bit W7 drivers and put them on a USB stick ( or? )  You can always use any other computer later but unless you have the OME disk you won't have any dell drivers. WIndows will use generic drivers so it might or might not have proper LAN or Video drivers.  I'm glad your going the route I suggested in the other thread. W7 Is the way to go,  But ....it still might not deal with a power management issue as Jim has pointed out the same as I, Sometimes they are burned into the system and just not easily removed. Let's cross our fingers. 

On my laptops I've used, you could disable power management in device manager.. it is sometimes called "Microsoft battery management" 

  Cactus Music, I was incorrect in my original assumptions. The CPU is, indeed, running without idling, according to CPU-Z. I am cruising at a cool 2.499 Ghz. I also downloaded Throttlestop and that too aligns with CPU-Z and it's readings. So that mean other factors are at work and I don't know what they are. I am going to go to Dell and re-download the drivers to see if that removes the or fixes the problems. If not, I will wipe the drive and do a new install of Win7 32 Bit. The drivers on Dell's page are old, but they are for my pc so they should work. As you mentioned and Fireberd, the Win7 drivers may not be suitable for this old machine, but the software, according to Windows should work fine. When you say Dell Win7 drivers, what exactly do you mean? I thought I was going to the support page and supplying my service tag number and then downloading the drivers that originally came with my machine, except updated by Dell, some of which are still years old. Is there another page I need to be going to for Dell Win7 32 Bit drivers for my machine, which I would not think Dell would even support this far out from the original build date? Thanks.

There are no official Dell Windows 7 drivers.  Dell only supports XP and Vista 32 on this model.  However, the Vista 32 bit drivers are applicable for Win 7 32 bit, since Win 7 is just an improved version of Vista.  I haven't run across any Vista driver that did not work in Win 7 (except those covered by "murphy's law").

  Thanks Brother. So install of the drivers for my equipment based on Dell's service tag for my machine and hope for success. LOL

Yes, but one "gotcha".  Windows 7 will install some drivers.  Some will be later (better) drivers than what is on the Dell site, some will work but not the correct driver, such as the sound which requires the Dell sound driver, and some devices will require the Dell drivers. 

I can't tell you which ones will be required, other than the Sound driver for proper operation.  Install Win 7 and then see what doesn't work or doesn't work correctly and go from there.