Laptop Will not Boot and Has Lines on Screen

Hello,

I think my laptop problem may be quite serious, so I would be glad to read what anyone has to say. I'm just hoping to make the right decision, about whether or not I have to buy new hardware for example. My laptop is an ASUS A8JS (a little over 3 years old). The GPU is a GO Geforce 7700.

So, here's the problem: I turned off my computer one night (last Thursday) and everything was working as expected. Then next morning I turned on my computer and Windows would not even begin to boot. When I turn the computer on the screen has lines down half of the screen (or down the middle), while the rest of the screen is black that rapidly fades to white. It has remained like that for a few days now. Nothing has changed.

I have tried rebooting the HDD (by holding down the power button without a power source).

I have reseated the RAM, HDD, battery, and VGA.

I have taken it into a shop (they said they would have to send it away) and talked with one repair guy; the computer repair guy said that he is almost certain that my GPU is broken. We were talking over the phone, but really it does not do anything that I did not describe already.

What do you think the problem is? I would like to keep using this notebook, as I don't really want to change HDD, and it allows me to game (well it used to...) as well as everything else without forking out another arm and a leg.

Will I need to buy and install a new VGA? Motherboard? Can the GPU possibly be fixed? Any thoughts would be welcome. I am more than happy to attempt to repair it myself, and I do need to solve it pretty quickly. I work from home on my computer, so I basically just got laid off as well! Thanks for any help in advance,

Ben