Hi!

My friend's laptop died several months ago during an
electrical storm. He gave it to me after he bought
another one. Being a little tight on budget, I would
really appreciate any help with bringing the laptop
back to life.

Lightening damage is just about the worst thing that can happen to any piece
of electronic equipment.

Further, in all honestly, no matter what you know and understand, if you've
never been in a laptop computer before, then you may be in for quite the
surprise. Things inside there are very highly integrated, space is tight and
many things are quite fragile.

If you want to try to resurrect it, then give it a try! You've got nothing
to lose, but I don't think a DMM will help you much. Spend some money on a
good set of small tools. You will need them more than anything else,
especially if you must go deep inside the computer after a failed part.

Having the right power supply would also be a good idea. Some laptops work
fine as long as the voltage and current levels are about correct. Others
behave strangely. A very few won't even work if the power supply is not
exactly right.

Finally, smell around for anything burnt. I've found that the modem is
usually what gets blitzed in an electrical storm. If that's the case then
you might find it on a separate card that could be removed if you don't need
it. I'm not sure that would cause the machine to not power up though. (Most
bad modems I've seen would let the machine come on, but they'd hold the
machine down dead.)

William