Motherboard or LCD?

I'm modding my old Gateway Solo 2550--actually I'm turning it into a Walltop. Disassembly was pretty straightforward, and the laptop booted successfully even once the whole thing was removed from the casing.

However, after screwing the motherboard down to the frame, the thing won't boot. The little fan and the LED display strip both power up, but the screen stays black. My question: is there any way to easily determine whether this is a motherboard or LCD issue? I'm assuming it's not the LCD, because I tried an external display and got no results either. But if the motherboard is bad, why do the LED strip and fan work? Hmmm...you can see I'm running in circles.

 

I work at Quanta, the guys that make your mobo most likely . Anyway, most of the time there are about 10 reasons and every single component of the notebook can cause the mobo to not POST. Take the mobo off of the base assembly and see if it boots then. If it boots, then you're shorting out somewhere most likely. If it still doesn't get power, let me know and we can try something else.

 

Thanks a lot for responding so quickly. I finally had a few minutes to jot down a reply...

I attached some pictures...they should help for reference.
Of course, when it failed to boot, I immediately removed the motherboard from the frame. The frame is completely wood, but I was worried that the screws might be shorting it out. But even when it wasn't screwed down, I got the same result--a black screen.

The screws are very tiny (there are 3 and I pointed them out in the pictures)...but is it possible one of them somehow shorted out a circuit on the board? or is it likely that I screwed it down too hard and broke something on the bottom of the board? (I thought I was gentle with it...) hmm any suggestions would be great.

Thanks for the help; hope you have a good Christmas.