Help with my P20- Screen blank!!

Hey
I've had a 17" Satellite P20 for tow years now and it has run great. I play alot of games on it (BF:2, BF1942 etc), and the performance is really good. I cam home today and hit the power button and it started to boot up to the desktop, I could even hear the Windows tune. The problem is that there is nothing on the screen, it is dark and blank. I phoned the local notebook place and I have arranged to bring it in. Does anybody know what could be worng? I've treated it nicely, in fact it just got a new hard drive installed afew weeks ago. The man I talked to said it could be hard drive related (which is on warranty) or it could be that the graphics ship is burnt out??? How does it just stop workinglike that? I'm 16 and my parnets obvioulsy bought this thing, and they are getting tired of repairing it (after the new $150 HD) Any help before I bring it in?

 

Hmm...

Hook the notebook up to an external monitor and see if you get a picture/signal from it. If you do, the screen is dead; if not, the GPU is most likely blown out.

 

Yep, must be the GPU.
I already tried using a different screen and pressinf fnf5 to make it go line out. Anyone have an idea on what it will cost to repair this? I've heard I need a whole new motherboard...

 

If you need a new MOBO, it'll cost you upwards of $500 - probably not worth replacing. Is the GPU integrated or dedicated?

 

I'm fairly sure the GPU is intigrated into the motherboard. Looks like we'll be getting it repaired.

 

Hmm...

If the repair costs an exorbitant amount of money (repair's total cost is more than $900), I would seriously look at getting a replacement notebook instead.