Also...after a power surge it's possible you will need to reset the bios
(there is usually a jumper) I've seen apparantly bad motherborards work
fine after the bios is reset

Thanks, that fixed it -- there was a jumper to "Discharge the CMOS".
It worked fine after I did that. I reentered my desired BIOS settings,
and now all is well.

Well, except for the power button, which is now hanging outside the
case on its wire because the plastic part that held it in place is
broken. But that should be an easy fix (knock on wood).

Thanks,

Greg