PC Laptop issue

[Foozball]

My laptop is dead and I have narrowed the issue down to either a bad motherboard OR Video card, anyone with a tech background have any ideas on how to figure out which one it is with the "issues"?
Video card would be easier to replace, but the motherboard is less expensive... 

[Chilbear]

If the laptop has an external video port, hook up another monitor and that should indicate whether there is life in the video card as you should be able to see the startup - perhaps entering BIOS at startup should show any life and also show if the video is working as the BIOS should work even if the MB is dead - at least my server did this. I had a techie do the CPR and he used an install disk with XP on it and switched the BIOS to start from the CD/DVD. Board was barely alive but it had power enough to allow a copy of the HD.