Four hours and almost $300 later, I have speakers that work, a CD drive to be replaced (at no cost) by a tech who will come to my house, a 320 GB Ext HD, 4 GB RAM cards coming and another year's warranty.

Remind me not to contact their EELP Desk again. Ouch!

I would imagine the Ext. HD will be a good idea, though, because I haven't backed up for ages (damned CD Burner wouldn't burn--I should have yelled a lot sooner). My computer will be 5 years old after my new warranty expires in 2010 so the ext HD should protect all my programs.

Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with the Ext HD after it arrives. I have no idea how to back up, how to save my work on both the internal and external HD's, etc. Sigh.