Startup problems with HP Pavilion dv6253cl Notebook

I'm trying to fix my wife's manager's 2006 HP Pavilion dv6253cl Notebook with Vista home edition w/. I'm at least trying to save his .document & picture files which I did by going into Safe mode.

When I first got it, sometimes it will boot fully.
Then it would boot exactly every other time.
Now it rarely boots and when it does, screen goes blank before it fully loads.

Symptoms:
LEDs glow, fan noise heard , display remains black, and computer fails to startup or boot.

Things I've done:

Connected an external monitor to check if the problem is the built-in LCD display or graphics card. (Did not work on my other monitor)

Removed all CD/DVDs, SD cards, USB devices, peripherals and did a Hard Reset. (Didn't fix problem)

Removed memory modules and replaced/reseated one-at-a-time.

Removed and reseated hard drive.

Early on, I turned on power, pressed F10 to enter BIOS mode, and ran Memory Test and Hard Drive Test . (Tested fine)

Now most of the time I can't even access BIOS F10, I just see the LED lights. Once in a great while, I can get into BIOS F10.

Does this mean bad HD or is there something else I can try.

 

Motherboard gone bad. Do you want to salvage files or repair the laptop?

Simple file salvage: remove HDD, put it in desktop computer and copy files to safety. If no desktop available, get usb enclosure (essentially, turn the laptop disc into usb hdd).

Medium difficulty: turn the laptop on. Wrap it in plastic bag, then wrap it in cloth like a blanket. Leave it on UPSIDE DOWN for 60mins. Then shut it down and let it cool. If computer boots after that, quickly copy all your files since the "fix" doesn't last forever if even hours.

Harder: buy new motherboard and replace it.
Harder v2: do the heatgun/oven trick for current motherboard

Expensive: buy new laptop, let someone else transfer the data. Swear you'll never buy nvidia again

 

I was lucky... one of the many times I turned it on and off, it came on and I went into safe mode and saved the files needed before it shut off again. Since it was still on after I copied the docs & pics, I tried to do a system restore, but it shut down half way through that. The next twenty times to get it to turn on was nil. I took the HD out to try that as that would prove it is indeed a MB problem... it came on one time in twenty tries that time. Said no hD detected at the top of screen before shutting down again.

As far as I'm concerned it is a heavy Brick. At least I got the data retrieved.

Thanks for the help.