Usual story - girlfriend's step-brother's laptop is broken. I don't know a huge amount about what occurred before it broke, but I do know the following:

• When you try to turn the laptop on, it beeps 15 times exactly.
• The screen remains black.
• The LED on the Caps Lock key flashes continuously.
• If left on, the laptop never boots - as far as I can see.
• If left on, on a stable surface with decent ventilation for a relatively short period of time, the laptop (below keyboard, but not where the RAM/HDD are) gets very hot.

I've tried doing what most websites appear to recommend for similar problems, which is to disconnect AC and battery then hold the power button down for a minute before reconnecting the AC and trying to turn the laptop on - no difference.

EDIT I've also tried re-seating the RAM, to no avail.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,