Win98 Slow Start-up

My windows98 takes nearly 20 minutes to start up. I don't
really know how to describe it, but at the start-up
screen, that little bar thing at the bottom slows almost
to a crawl. As I said before, the computer takes nearly 20
minutes to start up, and I cannot seem to find any
information on this. I have had to erase my hard drive
several times due to various problems, and I think that it
might be cause by traces of the previous operating system
still hidden in the hardrive after formating. If enough of
these little traces come together, I'm sure it would cause
a conflict, and make the start-up slower than usual. Could
this be the problem? I could use a second opinion, and
perhaps even a way to fix this problem. For now, all I can
do is leave my computer on all day, and hope that my power
doesn't flash. Post, or e-mail your feedback please.
Thanks.

-Kris