Something Wrong With Power Supply

I know this isn't directly related to CoH, but I got this better computer so I could play CoH at near max settings and something wonky is happening with it. I am a complete moron when it comes to hardware issues, so I'm kind of lost on what to do.

Basically, within the past week my computer wouldn't turn on when I I hit the power button. I'd hit the button and only hear a click, but it didn't start up. Changed outlets, and it would all of a sudden work.

Then, yesterday, it wouldn't start no matter what I did. I popped it open and I noticed on the motherboard, The 'Standby Power' light was on, and when I hit the power button, the 'Mem(ory?) Power light would come on, but not the Main Power light. I take it to Best Buy (yeah, I know, I was desperate.) and they can't even swap out the power supply for theirs to see if it is the power supply for sure because they say it's a proprietary power supply and has some custom pin connection. I call Alienware/Dell and they say that they no longer make that part and all they can do for me is give me the full name of it try to find another one on ebay or such. Haven't had any luck finding this exact one so far. Money isn't an issue if I could just buy another one, but if this super specific power supply is the only one that will work on this computer, I'm at a loss of what I can do.

Today, I try randomly to see if it'll turn on and it did! I'm almost afraid to turn this thing off again for fear it won't turn on again. I usually only put it into hibernate mode instead of turning it off completely. Is that good/bad to do? Any ideas, musings, advice? Computer is Area 51-R6 and the power supply is 'ALIENWARE 1 KILOWATT 1000W POWER SUPPLY OEM ATX PSU'.

Here's the rest of the specs of this computer if you need them:

[1] Area-51®

Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8200 2.66GHz 6MB Cache 1333MHz FSB
Alienware P2 Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - Cyborg Green
System Lighting: Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Nova Yellow
System Cooling: Alienware® Standard System Cooling
Power Supply: Alienware® 1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Graphics Processor: Single Graphics Card - 1GB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 280
Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066MHz - 2 x 2048MB
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA® nForce® 790i Ultra SLI™ Motherboard
Includes PCI-Express 2.0, DDR3 Memory, and Support for Intel 1600 FSB
Operating System (Office software not included): Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1 – DirectX 10 Ready!
System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 250GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache
Optical Drives : Single Drive Configuration - 20X Dual-Layer Burner (DVD±RW)
Enthusiast Essentials: Killer K1 Gaming Network Interface Card - Smoother Online Gaming!
Physics Processing Unit: Ageia PhysX PCI-Express Processing Unit w/ 128MB GDDR3
Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio
Monitor: 22" Samsung 2253BW – 1680 x 1050 (2ms) Widescreen Flat Panel
Speakers: Logitech® Z-2300 2.1 200-Watt Speakers

If this kind of inquiry isn't allowed at all, can someone at least maybe PM me a link to a decent hardware issues forum where I may obtain help? Or perhaps a power supply that would work with my rig despite this custom pin connection issue? Anyways, if you need more info than what I have given, please let me know. I will be watching this thread closely. Thank you in advance.

A quick search came up dry on Amz and eBay, hopefully someone will stop in that knows more about this type of system. I can think of a few that are probably perusing the forums right now. Worst case, might have to consider swapping the motherboard/PSU, but this is an Alienware (IE: custom) thing so IDK for certain how 'easy' that would be.

Physically... not terrible, provided it's got an ATX mount system in the case. 'Mentally' if you will... well...

Long story short: You will buy a motherboard, power supply AND Operating system to get it to run. And likely, you will also be starting the new operating system from scratch, not upgrading, not saving the Vista installation. So you might as well throw a hard drive in there on the shopping list, make the current one a secondary to get the data then use it for backup.

And... well, the motherboards I can see at newegg are... well, not something I'd buy, to be honest:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=1&srchInDesc=

This list is an LGA775 to work with your Core2Duo, and DDR3 1333 Memory capable.
The power supply is whatever 1000W you wanna get, I would suppose. Pick a good one.

Now, regarding the case... If a standard ATX type mounting system is in it, it looks like it'll just go in there. So you can reuse it. If NOT... then you're buying a case too. And... while it looks like there's an... 80? 90? inch fan mount on the chassis where the water cooling (if it comes with that?) is mounted, then you need to replicate that, or be ok with an air cooler instead. But it *looks* like it's just a standard mid-tower ATX case, so again, if it's got standard ATX mounts, you're good to go with your current case. Unless the pictures I'm seein' aren't right. Been known to happen.

And you will be required to upgrade your OS, because the Vista Key is only going to work on another Alienware/Dell motherboard. That's the way those keys work. Hence the second drive, to keep the other one intact. Providing it's not married to the Alienware system in some way...

Frankly... I would just say "oh well", and build a newer, better, less reliant on any one company computer, but I can understand you wanting to keep this one around. I just think that given what it is, and what you can 'easily', and/or 'reliably' get... You have a real battle on your hands.

I wish you a sincere good luck, and hope that others or yourself have better news than what I've come up with so far...

/I'm sure that I'm gonna see a couple of "nuh-uh!"s on the Vista key... try it. You will find I'm right... legally, that is.
//What you do in your house is your business... and whatever Microsoft figures out.
///You could always go Ubuntu or something...

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I was ignorant when I bought this thing, never thought it'd be this much of a hassle if something went wrong with it.

Good news. A company that works on the same floor as mine that do a lot of hardware work are going to take a look at my power supply and motherboard and try to fix it so I can avoid the hassle of trying to transfer all the working stuff to a new rig. We'll see how it goes.