Old Acer Aspire 5538 BIOS Flash?

I have had an Acer Aspire 5538 for a good while, my mother got it for me years ago as a gift. Recently, however, I was playing some good old Halo: CE when the screen just went to black. It was still on, just wasnt showing anything. It had that "glow" thhat you'd see if a screen was on, but not showing anything. I figured, oh maybe I was kicked for some reason, and the game somehow crashed. I restarted the computer and it booted normally. I decided to play Halo 2, since the Master Chief Collection was days from release. The screen did the same issue as before, soI figured, "Okay, just doesn't want to work today.. Oh well. ill just reboot it and play some Xbox 360". Sfter that last shutdown, the computer was seriously f**ked up. The POST screen would not show at all, no beeps (except low battery, battery has been useless for years), nothing. The screen never even turned on at all. The fans were running fine, hard drive was working, CD drive was fine. Just nothing started up. ever. Ive had this issue for several weeks now, and ive tried and failed the following:

-plugging in external monitor

-putting new BIOS files on USB drive, holding Fn+Esc when powering on (USB drive doesnt recieve power until Windows is up)

-using other hard drives

-removing RAM, HDD, battery, etc. for 5 minutes, then re-inserting and trying to boot.

-putting BIOS files on a blank CD and inserting into computer when booting

All of the above things have failed, I have looked for a tutorial on how to flash the BIOS, but have found nothing. I cannot send it in for repair, the warranty is expired and there is no recipt (since it was a GIFT). I would assume that the LCD was messed up, but when I was simply trying to power on & off the device for signs of life, ONE time the screen actually came on. The Hard drive and RAM were both out, so i had to shutdown and put them back in. THe device has not shown any signs of life other than fully responsive TouchPad disabler, power button, fans spinning, Hard drive humming, etc. there have been no beeps, except when the battery is low.

Please, someone tell me. What the is wrong with my laptop?

I also cannot afford a new one, so please dont suggest that.

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