Motherboard fried or harddrive? Pics inside

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My laptop (Gateway NV79) is failing to recognize the mobo after about a year of owning it. I tried the HD in the other slot, still nothing, which isn't helping me narrow down if it's the HDD or the MB. Sorry about these poor quality pics, but what I am showing you is a dark black spot, which looks like aftermath of a failure of some sort.

I am able to boot my compute with a recovery disk with no prob., other than it being unable to detect a HDD.

My main question here is, how can I;

1. Avoid buying a new HDD just to test it to confirm if it's the HDD or the MB.

2. Not bring it to a computer repair place. (Broke as a joke during the holidays!)

My only other computer is a desktop, but I don't think I am able to test the drives in that computer. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

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Sorry, forgot to mention seeing it's hard to see. Its on the upper part of the copper tubing under the plastic, where it actually looks like a shadow, it's black from something.

 

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This image is keeping me positive the mobo might still be ok.

 

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Sorry, dug a little deeper and answered a part of my question.

which is exactly how the blackening looks.

Now, if the HDD isn't working in both slots, chances are, it's going to be the HDD? How could I test this out?