Solved! Laptop Running Incredibly Slow, even after OS reinstall

[btmilan]

I have an HP laptop, it was a budget model from walmart, 15-dy1024wm , I bought it about a year and a half ago, so the warranty is dead.
I upgraded the RAM to 16 gb about a year ago, it has been running great the entire time. The other day, I picked it up, closed the screen, moved it, then tried to open it back up, and it wouldn't turn on. Holding the power button didn't seem to work, finally I plugged it in and tried to turn it on, and it worked. When it turned on, it was incredibly slow just doing simple tasks, like opening up notepad. I ended up reinstalling Windows 10, and it was still ridiculously slow. I tried to check out the SSD, but there were no broken blocks on it. Task manager indicated that the processor was running at 1.36, which is what it is supposed to be, and only 10-20% was being used. Only 4 gb out of 16 gb of ram used. I ended up deleting windows and installing Ubuntu, which was still just as slow. At this point, I feel like it has to be a hardware issue, but I have no idea where to start.

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for linux software to do a diagnostic or something to help me determine whether it is the motherboard or the power supply or what?

 

[rgd1101]

I tried to check out the SSD, but there were no broken blocks on it.

what? how full is the ssd?

 

[btmilan]

what? how full is the ssd?

after reinstalling windows, it was about half full. After deleting windows and installing ubuntu, it had hardly anything on it, but it still is incredibly slow.

 

[AlHuneke]

HP has diagnostic software available. There are also other bootable diagnostics available. I would try one of those next. Also look for a SMART program to read out the data from the SSD (assuming it is SMART compatible which most are). That data is different from what a HW diagnostic will tell you and may point to a problem with the SSD.

 

[mrmike16]

I agree with AlHuneke's suggestion, and I'd like to add that if it passes all of the diagnostics with no errors, the first thing I would do is test it with a different SSD. If still there is no improvement, then a different set of RAM sticks.