A different disto will have to be a last result coz I will have to change this for another 6 machine for standardisation purposes. :-(

@maina
I am using gnome and had also tried lxde with no luck.

specs:
celeron 1.70GHz
ram 512 DDR DIMM
graphics S3 prosavage DDR
connected to a sahara 17' TFT

--
"One who ask questions is a fool for five minutes one who doesn't is a fool forever."