Tried removing battery, holding power button for 10 seconds, removing RAM, etc. - Benjamin Golub

Did you check to see if it was just the display that died? Does it chime when you start it up? - Mark Trapp

No chime. - Benjamin Golub

"It's dead, Jim" - Tinfoil 2.0

Resetting the PRAM/NVRAM didn't work. It's like the Macbook is asleep. I'm going to try running the battery down. - Benjamin Golub

It's upgrade time! Are you a 13", 15" or 17" sorta guy? O_o - Adrian

If removing the RAM didn't help, that sounds like it might be a logic board problem. Does target disk mode work? - Mark Trapp

Definitely sounds like the motherboard is kaput. - Adrian

Target disk mode doesn't work either. - Benjamin Golub

The worst part is I erased the sparsebundle that Time Machine was stored on in an attempt to get Time Machine working again (it hasn't backed up for like a week). That did work this morning; but the backup didn't finish before the machine got into this state :( - Benjamin Golub

You said you reset the NVRAM, but was that just Command+Option+P+R? Relatively newer MacBooks have an SMC, which is reset with Left Control + Option + Shift with the power adapter plugged in and pressing the power button. The adapter indicator light should blink from yellow to amber to green if you do it right. Some people call the SMC the NVRAM, so just double-checking. - Mark Trapp

Well, unless it's an unrelated failure, your hard drive should be okay: you should be able to unplug it and copy the data. - Mark Trapp

It's a late 2008 Macbook Pro. Trying the SMC thing. - Benjamin Golub

Here are the full SMC reset instructions just in case my abbreviated version doesn't do anything: http://support.apple.com/kb... - Mark Trapp

SMC reset is the modern "zapping the PRAM"? - Joe Silence

SMC reset didn't work. - Benjamin Golub

Is it connected to any external devices? Even a USB keyboard or mouse? - Kevin (aka ThreadKilla)

Nope. - Benjamin Golub

Yeah; appointment scheduled for this evening :( - Benjamin Golub

Apparently it's a common issue with the nvidia chipset on the logic board. They are fixing it for free! - Benjamin Golub from iPhone

Oh sweet! I was going to ask if you had tried hooking it up to an external monitor. I have a 2008 MBP whose display died a similar death but it works great if you have an external display. - Akiva

External monitor didn't work. The thing isn't posting at all. - Benjamin Golub from iPhone

Wow. Much worse than my situation. Although I've discovered that it's rather difficult to get people interested in buying a laptop that only works with an external monitor... - Akiva