2000 Dodge Dakota Random Stalls

While there are many other problems with my Dakota that need to get taken care of, this is the most problematic. Either while stopped or while moving, the engine will randomly stall on me with no warning whatsoever. To be more accurate, the truck just stops responding to any attempts to use the accelerator. As long as the vehicle is coasting at about 25mph, power steering will continue to work, and the engine will still be idling. Once the engine stops idling, power steering goes out. During this time, the instrument panel appears to lock up. Speedometer, and Tachometer, Oil Pressure and Temp are not changing for about 10-15 seconds. After this time, all instrument panel displays except for battery and temp drop to zero, check engine and ABS light pop on, and the Odometer changes from milage to "No bus."

Have tried to pull error codes after this occurs, and get a "No Link" error. When vehicle is running, no error codes are detected, and check engine light is off. Shutting the truck off and disconnecting the battery for several minutes does not clear the issue. Truck will start again after random amount of time, but ignition has to be turned off. After the "No Bus" Error appears, starter will spin up, everything moves like it's supposed to, but engine will not fire up.

Have read several threads with similar issues, and most of them point to a bad ECM (read expensive problem), or a bad ground in the system causing the ECM to freak out. (Read hard to find problem).

My question is, how do I go about determining which of the two sources it is? I'm not the most mechanically inclined person, so talk to me like I don't know anything, you'd probably be right.

I know how to use a multimeter, I just have no clue where to start looking on a vehicle.

Help? Please? :D