A Partial Solution.

I'm pretty sure at this point that there's something wrong with my motherboard and that's what's causing all the problems over the past week. When I put in my old Linux harddrive it did the same thing that it had been dong with Windows, so it's not a messed up Windows installation that's causing my system to not boot properly and crash five or six times a day.

This version of Linux was never the most stable thing to begin with, but now with a motherboard that's freaking out it runs even less stable. I don't think this is going to last that long. You can get away with lots of crashes in Windows without screwing up things too badly, but Linux can get a little pissy if you don't shut it down properly. On the up side, I've been running it all day and I've yet to have it crash and reboot itself or completely lock up (both of which I've experienced with this version of Linux in the past).

So, what am I going to do? Well, I can replace the motherboard and go on my merry way. But that way won't be merry for me. If I get a new motherboard I'll have to practically gut my case, put the new motherboard in, put in the processor, mount the heatsink on the processor, put in the RAM, put in the PCI cards, plug in all the cables and wires, reinstall Windows, reinstall all my applications, restore all my backed up data, find drivers for everything, etc. I just don't have it in me to do all of this right now, so I'm buying a new computer. And this is a lousy time to have to buy a new computer. I'm getting cheapest damn thing I can find.