My macbook won't boot up or respond to start up letter-holding functions??

Can anyone shed some light on the problem I seem to be having. I'm trying to revive my macbook from the dead, it has been in the loft since it died on me nearly 2 years ago, so I cannot even remember which OS is installed, pretty sure its Leopard tho. My macbook loads up to the start screen (apple logo and rotation loading graphic) but goes further. I have trawled through copious amount of forums looking for an answer but they all tell me to hold command and R or hold shift, non of these functions see to be having an effect. I am reluctant to take it to an apple store as I foresee the obvious "Its the logicbaord, £400 please". The macbook is worth about £200 (when working) so I could justify a £400 fee to fix it. I also can't afford to buy a second hand one at the moment so I'm desperate to fix this myself, even if I buy the parts and fit them myself (I'm pretty good that that) just can diagnose it to find what the problem actually is. Is it possible to connect it to another PC or MAC and remotely diagnose it?
Any ideas you guys have would be very helpful. I have already come to terms with the loss of my macbook so I will survive with just my Windows laptop, but I am one who refuses to the something beat me. Am I clutching at straws?
Shaun

You've probablby seen this Apple note and done all the steps in it?

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