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I guess this system is about 6 years old. A week ago, upon boot up, there is no display. I don't hear any beeps on post or any other signs of error, there is just a blank screen. The hard drive light shows activity. The screen seems to illuminate slightly - that is, the screen is slightly lighter and bluer on power up as opposed to the jet black when the machine is off. There was no physical damage to the unit (not dropped or banged or anything).

Anyway, before I open the machine up, I was hoping that someone could provide some insight and troubleshooting steps to get me on the right path. I've built many desktop systems, but I haven't really messed with taking notebooks apart. My first instinct was that the video card is fried. Does this unit have an independent video card or is the video on the mobo? What are the steps I should try to determine the exact problem?

Thanks for the help.