No screen at power on

[BobA]

I purchased a 'working' laptop on eBay. When I received it, it powers on - but I get no screen and hear nothing in the background that indicates it's going beyond the initial turning on the power.

Any ideas on what the problem might be? I've tried batt only, ac only, ac/batt, no ac - no batt (oh - that didn't even turn on -- ;0))

I tried the 10 times + 10 seconds mentioned in another post.

Is this a problem with the CPU? video? memory? motherboard? me??? BTW, I do get the standard beeping complaint without memory in the system .. just never get any screen. I actually have two systems like that. One I bought for parts knowing the condition - but this one is a surprise.

Thanks.

Bob

[rkawakami]

SOP is to pull all hardware from the machine (except a single memory module) and try powering up. If it comes alive, replace one component at a time, repeating the power up. When you get to the part that prevents the system from turning on, you've found your problem .

(edit: BTW, what systems are we talking about here?)

[BobA]

A T40 - Somehow, I posted in the wrong forum. I'll repost. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give that a try.