in my situation with whining noises, which I ignored because it came and went, it suddenly died on me in route which came out to be the alternator. Looked under the hood and the alternator was smoking. Turned the ignition on and got nothing at all, no dash lights - nothing. Looking back, the only warning that I got was at one point I noticed my headlights one night slightly dimming in a pulsating manner, but that went away as well and never occurred again. I'm planning to get the alternator changed/replaced to see if it'll crank again and will keep you guys updated on the outcome.