My iPad screen has gone black. I have tried resetting it with the sleep and home buttons and it only flashes the apple on the screen for a nano second and then it goes black again. I can even hear notifications arriving, but I cannot see anything...

My iPad screen has gone black. I have tried resetting it with the sleep and home buttons and it only flashes the apple on the screen for a nano second and then it goes black again. I can even hear notifications arriving, but I cannot see anything...I'd rather not reset it to the factory settings as I have a lot of things I worry about using. Either way seems to me that the system itself is working since I can hear it working, but its the screen that isn't. It has not been dropped and has been in a case for years! Please help!