Latitude X200 Problem(s)

So about a week ago the screen on my brother's X200 went out whilst he was using the machine. Nothing else seemed to change (ie lights, etc) so I assumed at the time that the screen was dead.

When I got home I hooked it up to another monitor to confirm whether or not it was simply a matter of a dead screen... and nothing showed up.

So when I hit the power button the screen seems to flash really fast before it just sits there, dead. Power light and battery lights come on and the thing sounds like it's booting normally, but I never hear a "windows sound" or any evidence that it's doing anything.

I'm out of ideas, so any suggestions? Is it dead? It is something simple I'm overlooking? Should he give up and get an M1330?

Thanks in advance.