PC problems

PC problems have kept me from posting my Final NRA Annual Meeting missive. The system powers off randomly at intervals of 1 minute to 3 hours. It may stem from an attempt to install a dual boot system with Linux on a dying hard drive. And I don't know enough about Linux to remove the attempt (my bad).

Tonight I'm running on Ubuntu 8.10 which allows me to access the hard drive. I've ordered a new 500GB hard drive to re-install windows. $60 is cheap compared to losing the data on the other hard drive. Stand by... hopefully tomorrow.

BTW, Encountering this problem, I guessed the problem was most likely a MoBo problem, perhaps a processor problem (and ordered replacement versions). But it's been running flawlessly now several hours on Ubuntu 8.10. So I'm now thinking the root cause is either a virus or something software related. Either way I'll probably have a parallel Linux system up and running by the end of the week. I would really like to get to a comfort point with Linux that I can give Redmond the middle finger salute!