FIXED!
Ok, gathering all the advice from a couple of forums, I decided not to by pass the circuit board.
So first I thought I would put it all together again and start fresh.
The thing works great.
No problems, speed control is perfect.
Now why was this happening. So I started thinking and when I took it apart, out fell a piece of styrofoam from the back end. I didn't think much of it, thought it was packed in holding something in place. Didn't know where it came from, so had no way of putting it back to what it was holding.
So I am thinking that it fell apart and lodged up against one of the arm and was causing so much resistance that it slowed the saw down to barely moving.
last question:
do new brushes make more noise as they are flat and haven't conformed to the rotation of the motor?