Computer Woes

Well, I seem to have half a laptop and half a desktop at my disposal at the moment.

My 1997 2000-era desktop had been hobbling along for about two years now, but finally died a few months ago. By all signals, it was the hard drive (computer claimed it had no hard drive attached), so I ordered myself a nice cheap 40GB one from NewEgg.com and set to work installing. In a moment of of sheer idiocy, I tried to plug it in while the power was still on (no, I have no idea why I did something that stupid!). Zzzzap!. D'oh!!! Now computer says there is nothing attached (No CD drive, no floppy drive, etc...). It had long been doing things like refusing to conect via dialup despite a new modem (it's fine with cable), or suddenly doing a memory dump and resetting things without warning, or randomly--though usually temporarily--deciding there was no HD attached.

So, for several months now I've been riding the used Dell laptop really hard. Hmmm... maybe too hard--the touchpad has developed Hyperactive Mouse Syndrome, and about 6 weeks ago I dropped it on the corner where it hooks up to the power cable, cracking the case around the plug.

Last night it did something it's done before: turned itself off without warning. I don't usually worry about that because it has a habit of just going to "sleep" instead of alerting me when the (poorly-charging) battery is dying. Usually it'll start right back up when I plug it in. Not this time... It resolutely sits there with as much life as a paperweight, not even acknowledging that it's been plugged in. Sigh...

You'd think that between half a laptop and half a desktop .(as well as an old laptop harddrive, and an extra desktop harddrive), there'd be enough for one computer. But alas, that's not how it works (even for the Frankenstein-inclined)...

As I will soon be unemployed, going without a functioning computer is not an option right now. So, I'm going to drag both carcasses to the local computer shop and see what they suggest (at the very worst I can download the contents of the laptop harddrives). If it's the motherboard on the desktop, maybe I can invest in a new one, but if it's the fan/power system on the laptop (as I suspect), I'm thinking the portable piece of junk isn't worth repairing. We'll see, I guess...

Any advice from the techies out there? [Update]