help! my computer crapped out!

Hey everyone. I have an asus g1s a1 laptop running windows vista. This morning I went to turn it on and the screen won't work at all. I tried plugging a monitor into it via HDMI but that failed. I'm not even sure it's the monitor that's the problem, because I tried typing my password to log in and that didn't work either.
Last time I used it was yesterday. I wrote a paper for class and downloaded a ton of updates. After the updates I restarted it and it booted fine. But this morning it decided not to work.
Does anyone have any ideas about what the problem might be?
Any ways to troubleshoot? And last resort getting that paper I typed off my hard drive?

The data can be found by removing the drive from the laptop and putting it into a working machine. As long as it is working, that is (the hard drive).

As for the laptop, a few more details would help. Are there any noises coming from it like fans or clicking or anything? Does it get power?

Can you reseat the RAM in it and see if that works?

Welcome to the site.

There were no abnormal sounds during boot up.
it gets power because I hear the sound that plays when I start up my computer. It plays with the BIOS. It seems like it doesn't get any further than that though.
I don't think it was a surge. My roommate's lappy was plugged into the same outlet all night, and his works fine.
Could you explain how I reset the RAM?

What sound? Is it the OS startup sound or a BIOS POST sound?

It doesn't work on an external monitor? Did you plug the monitor in before your turned the laptop on?

Well asus has this screen that comes on when u start he computer. Its a asus logo and it plays a *boom* sound because its a gaming computer or whatever. The screen then goes black and usually it boots windows.
the.problem I'm having is when I turn it on I hear the sound but don't see anything. Even when I plugged in my monitor via HDMI. It seems like its not loading anything. The hard drive slows down and idles as apposed to speeding up as if were loading.

That sounds like the BIOS post screen. Can you bring up the BIOS setup menu?

Negative. I can't do anything