Acer 8930g (from 2008) issue, laptop suddenly turned off and now won't boot

Dealing with a family's (damnit I should stop doing this but I'm a bit stumped) Acer here. It's an older 8920g, but it has a 18.4inch screen and an Nvidia 9500 GS card

Basically here's how it goes:

Laptop unplugged, full battery or near full, placed on a bed (you can see where this is going), playing emulator games

Later, it suddenly turns off.

Upon trying to turn it back straight away, the laptop turns on, but only a blank screen is present.

I recommended to leave laptop off for 2 odd hours. Tried again after 2 hours, same result.


I got hold of the laptop now, basically it turns on, then suddenly flicks off and then back on again, and does.... nothing. The audio/media pad responds though (i.e. hold and mute button is responsive). I tried to take out the battery and turn it on, nothing. Then I put the battery back in and turn it on, same result. Screen remains black throughout all scenarios.

I'm taking it to the repair shop for the warranty thing, but was wondering if anyone else has any ideas before I go down this route

 

Emulators may not cause that much stress on a system, but placing it on a bed still means that the airflow to the system components is choked off, and that's generally bad news.
Crack the thing open and make sure that the intake vent is clean.
Does the laptop's hard drive get used while there's a blank screen? Try plugging the machine into an external monitor and see if it works then.

 

I'm unable to get a monitor (oddly enough)

However I believe there's no activity on the hard drive, as I tried to ask to see if there are "clues" as to whether he is able to get into Windows (and his volume as on so technically it should make a noise). Asked him to hit a couple of enters too incase there's a prompt about windows not starting.

I should be able to get my hands on it later on though and will probably be back with more info.

 

I got the laptop and bumping this topic. I have made modifcations to my main post above. Please advise if anyone has info.

 

Bump once more incase anyone can provide some insight.

 

Ever tried hard resetting the laptop?

 

Hey thanks for that article, I will test it when I get home. Does this work for all laptops universally? The article doesn't state so I find it a bit odd.