You had a laptop last TWO YEARS?!?! lucky!!
Actually, what you've described is not just an issue w/ Dell. I've fried my last four laptops and three of them started the same way as yours (only one was a Dell).... the other one had beer spilled on it.

One was in such bad shape that no tech would touch it... they all just said, take the parts you can and scrap it.
Now, as soon as I start to hear the loud fan, I make sure I increase my back-ups because it's only a matter of time. I guess there's only so much porn a laptop can handle before it can take it any more...haha
Best of luck!
Shannon G