Sigh - Dim 8200 stroking out?

Dim 8200

About 2 months ago, it stopped recognizing the Internal CD and DVD drives.  I originally found a loose connection and restored power to the units.  The power light on the drive itself will flash when the PC boots.  Under My Computer, I can see theses drives.  But, if I put a CD/DVD in, I can't access the data on the CD.  My Computer shows that no disc has been loaded.

I purchased an external DVD/RW and connected it via a USB port.  Worked great for about 3 weeks.  As of last night, it's doing the same thing that the internal drives are doing.  The external drive is listed under My Computer, but it won't acknoledge tehre's a DVD in it.  I plugged teh drive into my laptop and it works fine.

I have an external harddrive that the computer DOES recognize and I can access files on it and save to it, no problem.

And now last night, the PC no longer recognizes my wireless antenna.  When I unplug the antenna and snap it back into the USB port - the PC will acknowledge that new hardware was found.  But it won't pick up a wifi signal. 

Do these symtoms point to anything in common like a board or chip failing?  Is it time to throw in the towel and junk it? (It's 6 years old)

Thank gawd I bought this new laptop or I'd be up the internet river without a paddle. 

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.