After about an hour of trying to figure out what the fuck I was doing wrong [part of it involved the power switch, and a couple of other stupidities], I finally managed to get my computer back up and running again. I had to set it up a little strange, because something's gone wrong somewhere else -- it may be getting close to 'time for a new motherboard', bleh -- but I now have all my drives back, and a spiffy new DVD burner that's spookily quiet [I can't tell it's verifying right now].

Verifying. Yeah, that's right. I'm burning stuff, and my computer hasn't died on me yet. And, ooh, it verified fast. Maybe getting the new drive was a good idea after all.

I just thought I'd mention something, since this is what I was talking about when various other stupidities crawled out of the pits of internet sludge.