Hi folks..Me again..Another week of techy troubles!

Good lady had this for 3years+.. Been running fine until today. Shut it down this morning. Opened it back up this afternoon and everything on the keyboard lights up okay and the internal fan is spinning but screen dead.

So far I've tried ( and all failed)...

1. Plugging in external monitor - nothing. Monitor couldn't detect signal, even when I was forcing the laptop to send it externally
2. Pulled the battery - held the power button down for a minute - put battery back in - powered back up - still black screen
3. Pulled the ram out - only one stick in the machine so tried it in second slot - no difference - still black
4. Pulled the ram completely expecting to hear a beep or two as it tried to post - silence

Point 4 would make me think its motherboard related but I may be completely wrong.

I'm getting absolutely nothing onscreeen - not even splash screen etc. Just black...

Had all the screws out of the back but couldn't get the plastic off easily so have left that just now - could it be the cmos battery needs to be plucked out and stuck back in?

What else is there left to try other than the bin and a visit to the new laptop shop ?

Thanks again

Ged