VOSTRO 1000 Dell Laptop with Vista

My laptop screen goes completely dark after less than one second of booting up; probably about 1/3 of one second.  It remains blank from there on.  I tried adjusting brightness (no luck).  I tried Safe Mode.  I could see the initial choice screen flash for less than a second; then went dark.  I can tell the machine is booting up okay because if I press CNTL-ALT-DEL, the Windows desktop screen quickly followed by the Task Manager Screen (appears for less than one second); then goes dark.  I thought perhaps the battery was weak so plugged into wall outlet.  Results:  no change.  I cannot think of anything else to try.

Does anyone have any suggestions?