My MacBook Pro (2008), running Lion, will not startup.

I have reset PRAM and SMC. I get the startup tone, but nothing happens after that. The screen stays black. I hear no fan or hard drive sounds. I suspect that the hard drive has died. How can I verify this? If the hard drive has died, how do I go about replacing it? It looks like you have to just about take the machine apart to get to the hard drive. Any ideas anyone might have would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Frank Bendrick