Inspiron 1000

My laptop powers on, but does not boot up... The DELL screen appears and flickers on and off; I can get the DELL diagnostics screen and select an option, but it goes right back to the DELL screen and flickers some more.  The owner's manual says to hold down the mute button and the power button at the same time, but I don't know where the mute button is.  Someone suggested using the restoration CD, but I didn't get one with my laptop.  I also let the battery run down and recharged it, like someone else suggested and that didn't work either.

 

Any suggestions would be great!  Thanks!