Geo genius' Please Help Died, wont start

Hey all, First time here and a big car dummy. Please Help. Have 96 Geo metro lsi 1.3l 4 cyl.
Was coming home yesterday and car just died. Was running fine and just shut off ...like turning off the key. No funny noises or anything.
Has no fire at all. Looked at fusebox under dash and the ignition system fuse was blown. Tried replacing and turned car over and still no fire. checked fuse and it was blown again. Friend suggested timing so I looked at the timing belt to see what belt looked like. It looked fine, was still there :-) and the rotor of distributor turns when car is turned over. There was no funny noise when it died and, when cranking, it sounds fine so that, with the belt looking good, leads me to rule out timing. That was all I knew to check on timing so I dont know if it might have jumped timing or not.
Friend also said it may have been the control module in the distributor. Dont know if that is it or not. Is there an easy way to check this? Any other suggestions on what would blow ignition system fuse under dashboard? The is only car we have and I really need to get it back on the road. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanx!!!

AHA! Another victim of the poor wiring loom. There's a wiring harness that goes into the firewall to the ECU (next to the brake booster and charcoal filter). Eventually, internally, it rubs a few wires bare, and they short. What I did as a temporary fix, was pull the rubber plug out of the firewall, turn it a little bit, and put it back in, so it's postitioned differently. If you want to fix it right, you'll have to take the harness out, find the shorting wires, and re-tape them.

I don't know about the SOHC 1.3L but on the DOHC 1.3L the rotor inside the distributor has a small screw that holds it in the right position. I went through hell replacing things until I noticed that the rotor wasn't spinning because the screw came out.

I really appreciate the quick reply. Have read thru alot here and am really glad to hear from ya Geozukigti, as it sounds as if you have quite an extensive knowledge of Geos. I really hope it could be something so simple:-)
A few questions if ya don't mind???
1.) Is there anything else besides this short in the harness that could cause this? (the fuse to blow every time I try to start)
2.) In the distributor is a small black plastic thingy ( told ya I was a dummy ) that I was told is a control module of some sort with two wires plugging into a harness that looks like it goes to alternator. What is this and could it be the problem.
3.) Is it possible that it jumped timing without the belt looking bad and it not making any funny noises?
4.) If I removed the black thing (see 2 above ) and put it back on does it mess anything up. (said dont remove but couldnt read it till I removed it. Go figure )
5.) Anything else you can think of or any tests I can perform on the above items to either get proof or rule them out?
Sorry to be so dense here but I really want to fix this myself and I want to be sure before I start paying for things I dont need.
Once again, thanks for your quick reply. Will try to check out the harness deal tommorow and let ya know more.
To Jamcllw, I checked the rotor when it first happened and it was turning fine but thanks anyway and anymore suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Speaking of rotor ... Where should it be positioned? Friend said he thought it should always stop on #1 and he said it looks like its on four. Any thoughts???
Later all for now.
Eagerly awaiting futher posts. Keep up the great work. There is a great deal I can learn here and will be back.
P.S.
took the advice on the broken A/C fan switch. Loved it!!!

Well, the rotor will stop wherever then engine stops. It is turned by the cam. The black thingy sounds like the cam postition sensor, or "hall effect" sensor. It just tells the computer where the cam is at the current time, and when to fire. It won't blow a fuse. If you think it is, un-plug the harness coming from the distributor, and see if it blows a fuse when that is un-plugged. As for all the other parts, this diagnosis works too(just un-plug it, then see if it blows a fuse). Also, see if it blows the fuse when you just turn the ignition to full power, but not start. If it doesn't blow, push start the car and see if it'll fire.

Well your idea worked today for a short while. I checked the harness where it went thru firewall. I couldn't find anything obvious but I wiggled it some and pulled it about 1/2 inch to inch trhu firewall and tried to start it. Yureka!!! it started right up. drove around for a bit stopped and started it a few times and seemed fine. Bingo, did the same thing again. Just died. Is still blowing the ignition system fuse.
It only does it when you actually engage the starter, not when it is turned the power spot. Can't get it to start by wiggling now.
I am assuming that it is a short somewhere in there. any more specifics on where yours was shorting? was it on egine side of firewall or by fusebox. Sounds like I can hear something shorting up by fusebox. Is this something I should get a mech. to fix??
Also ( i know I'm longwinded. ) do you know of anything that would cause the fuse to short if it got hot? (just normal engine hot) was wondering cause it stopped both times after car warmed up.
You have been a great help. Any more info is greatly appreciated. At least now I'm not out spending money on stuff that I dont need LOL
Final note... that black thing (cam sensor) can be removed and put back even though it says dont remove. :-)

Thanks again!