Quote Originally Posted by SpywareDr View Post
Unless you know someone with some pretty sophisticated test equipment and knowledge of how to use it, you may have to simply start swapping in known-good components until you find a combination that works. The three basic components are the Motherboard, CPU and RAM.
I'm thinking that essentially rebuilding the computer a part at a time doesn't really have much appeal as a solution. Personally, I'd feel pretty secure in saying that if the system won't boot Linux or display a splash screen, and pulling the battery and disconnecting power for a minute didn't get the machine running, you are almost certainly looking at a dead MOBO; especially if you've tried an external monitor and it wouldn't light.

A defective processor is pretty uncommon, but an HP laptop with a dead motherboard is about as common as a belly button. You can probably find a replacement mainboard for cheap on eBay, but it's likely to be a used board with little or no warranty.