Trying to "Fix" My Computer: FAIL!

About three weeks ago I went into my home office to sync new songs onto my ipod touch. I noticed that my computer was "turned off." I thought that was strange because I never turn my computer off, unless i'm leaving town for a while. (I know, not a very "green" practice.) So, of course I go to turn on my computer and it would not boot past the windows logo screen. In fact, it would just shut down without ever loading windows.

Let the troubleshooting begin:
-I first tried to restore windows to an earlier version. Fail.
-Then i tried to start windows in safe mode. Fail.
-I tried to start windows from CD. Fail.
-I tried to replace the hard drive and load windows from a CD. Fail

At this point the frustration is mounting. Mainly because I couldn't access my music library. Hmmm, I wonder what that tells you about me.

-I replaced the motherboard (x2) and tried to load windows. Fail.
(is this getting old yet?)
-I tried to replace the power supply. Fail

Mulligan trying to lend a hand with the troubleshooting

RAM, graphics card, hard drive, fan, and motherboard

I know this may seem like a lot of trouble to fix a desktop computer. But it was fairly new. I purchased this desktop back in September 2007 when i was finishing up some simulations for my graduate work. So it was a decent computer (in terms of processing, memory, and hard disk space) back in 2007. So, it was MORE than enough for my current computing needs, which consists mainly of email, blogging, and youtube-ing.

I then discovered that Dell does not even make this model anymore. I couldn't even order some of the hardware components new. They only came refurbished (hence changing the motherboard twice). I think Dell discontinued this model because they knew they had known hardware problems.

I think the fact that my computer died is actually a good thing. I mean, who even uses desktops anymore? So after two weeks of trouble shooting, i realized that:
1) I couldn't fix my computer,
2) dell has pretty shitty hardware (my new computer is an HP....see my #4),
3) I have no need for a desktop computer, and
4) Macs are expensive.