The verdict is in.

My fan was on the fritz (hence the noise) which caused my modem to blow, causing the "blue screen of death" everytime I tried to sign onto the internet. It also was overheating because the fan wasn't working properly.

The cost??? REAL cheap. $80 which includes a new modem, new fan and tech time. He also saved all the cat hair that had accumulated in the tower. He said I could've made a sweater out of it. He suggested I put a filter inside to catch the cat hair.

He is now downloading Highstream.net and highly recommended Evast (sp??) which is a computer virus program that you can get free on the internet.

It IS bad news, but nothing that can't be fixed and nothing to lose sleep over.

I'll have my puter back up and running on Tuesday when I get paid.