I would try running a Linux cd like Unbuntu. You might have a bad disk. Does you pc run a POST fine? If you unplug the harddrive does it boot to "no operating system found"? Do you have a spare HD to test? Pulling out the rams stick was a good start.

Update: it appears to be my primary hard disk. I managed to load a live cd of Kubuntu (an Ubuntu derivative) and it is able to read that hard disk without much trouble, so I'm backing up my data on a portable one now. I'm not sure if the hard disk itself is bad, or just the WIndows that was on it, because it was only a year old and didn't show any signs before these problems. During boot, the point where it turned bad was always when windows started loading, and the POST message didn't show anything strange. Are there any hard disk diagnostic tools on Ubuntu that I can use to investigate?

That process is where it's loading drivers and whatnot. Also, blue screens are usually associated with driver problems. Since you went from 0 to broken in no time, I'm willing to be you have some piece of hardware that's failing. Then again, it Ubuntu runs fine, I could be wrong. Are you booting into X? Is all your hardware detected and working properly/ Ie, audio, video, network, anything that could be causing Windows to throw up.

They wont come with the drive. You have to download it from their site.

Sounds like you need to reformat an reinstall.

on a positive note, computers are getting cheaper and cheaper all the time for more and more. on a negative note, it's still expensive. If I really needed to, I could probably build a pc for a few hundred dollars, though it would only be capable of light gaming.

Theres always the possibility of getting some components second hand like the cpu and ram. They seem to function for years. The OS is still expensive. I wonder if Microsoft would release a gaming version of windows.

There are other discount ways of getting Windows. Like... student versions. Or people selling their old licenses.