>I better get Allie's data off the hard drive before the motherboard has a chance to fry.
>
>My most recent desktop machine (this one) is an Asus. It's kind of chintzy but so far no problems.
>
>Even when both motherboards died, the drives were still OK. Which was good because at the time, I was rather lazy on doing backups. (I do them regularly now).
>
>Chintzy...in what way?

The one thing that struck me was when I put in a video card. Not only were the slot protectors all connected, they were just this side of aluminum foil. I used ordinary household scissors to snip out the one I wanted to replace.