Inspiron 3181 - Doesn't turn on

My child banged on the Inspiron 3181 Chromebook several times in frustration—hard enough that the trackpad got pushed in and doesn't fully seal with the laptop. When I intervened, I noticed that the device appeared to be off, or at least the screen was off. I plugged it in and the LED light on the side turned on. The next day, I tried turning it on but it failed to turn on. I also discovered that the LED light on the side (to indicate that the device was charging) was not on anymore. (The power brick light was on, and I tried with a different power brick, too.)

I read all the discussion forum tips, such as "Turn off your Chromebook. Press and hold Refresh + tap Power . When your Chromebook starts up, release Refresh." As well as the removing the battery and holding down Power for 20 seconds. I really tried everything. I looked at the motherboard and don't see any obvious signs of damage. Perhaps it wouldn't be obvious, so maybe that's not relevant.

Here are my questions:

1. When I unplug the battery, and then plug in the power to the side of the Chromebook, the yellow LED light on the blinks on and off (forever). This means the motherboard is accepting power? 
2. In theory, can an Inspiron Chromebook turn on without a battery, provided it was plugged in?
3. I something think that the black screen flashes very, very faintly—as if the brightness was set to the bottom but that something was being displayed on screen. This happened after I plugged in without a battery. But it's hard to replicate and now I think it was a trick of the eyes caused because I moved the screen slightly and light from the window reflected in a brighter way. Maybe. I really don't know for sure. I pressed the brightness button but it didn't resolve.

P.S. Here are some photos of the inside, in case you can spot any damage that I cannot detect.

Under the hoodThe underside of the trackpadThe underside of the trackpadI think this is the wire that connects the monitor and tells the Chromebook to shut off the screen when the lid is closedI think this is the wire that connects the monitor and tells the Chromebook to shut off the screen when the lid is closed