i would do exactly as doug said and go crazy while being nice to them....if that dont work , find me a good board and ill slap it in. gonna cost you about 2 -3 weeks downtime though.
Be careful about who you send it to, that hard drive is your lifeline. you dont want nobody jacking your info up thinking it will fix things. Geek squad are terrible.
If you follow dougs advice , its really easy to get your info off there , may take you some time buts its worth it.