well, i walked in my PC room (after 6 wks of being "down") and low-and-behold my main PC's lights were on inside the case. i powered up, and voila! i'm up and running again lol. sorry gimmpy - you were THIS -||- close !! you know, i couldn't have planned it this way, but the timing couldn't be better :P

i'm thinking the 220 phase on the PSU is out/going out - since i lose power every time i have a power fluctuation, and my PSU "stays" out longer and longer each time it happens. the first time, it was only down for a week or two. this time, it was down for 6 weeks. when i get to the states, i'll see how it behaves on 110....