Had a buddy in college named Dave who swore his laptop was dead for like 3 months. Kept it in a drawer and everything. Finally brought it to a shop and the guy opens it up, pops in a new CMOS battery, and it boots right up. Dave felt like such an idiot he bought the guy lunch. It's crazy how something so small and cheap can make a machine look completely dead. People just assume the worst and go buy a whole new one.