New MacBook stuck at white screen on startup

My 1.83 GHz MacBook arrived today, and I pressed the power button for the first time. Heard the chime, saw the screen backlight turn on. And then nothing. No Apple logo, nothing.
The system is loading just fine, and after a little while I hear a female voice saying 'English' -- that must be the language selection screen, which I can't see, because the screen is still a bright white rectangle, nothing else.
I called AppleCare and following their instructions reset the PRAM, and the PMU. Tried loading the Install DVD. Result is invariably: a blank, white screen.
After a while, the bright white screen dims. That's the screensaver. O irony!
AppleCare gave up and told me I needed to order a new one. Or get my money back. This means waiting another two weeks, as white MacBooks are not in stock in the Netherlands, yet, and have to be shipped here from China.
If anyone can think of a way to try and remedy this before sending the MacBook back, please let me know.
MacBook 1.83 GHz, 1 GB RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

I had the very same thing happen to me with the first Macbook I bought.
I drove 40 minutes to the Applestore and 40 minutes back with a nice new white 1.83 Macbook, turned it on, began the setup process just as happily as could be when suddenly the screen bled to white - entirely white. I couldn't get it back so I could see anything. The thing was useless less than an hour after I bought it.
I called the Apple store and they told me that I would have to set an appt with the Mac "Genius", which wasn't going to be for a couple of days. I told them that this situation didn't take a genius to figure out - it's broken. Then they told me that I had to call Applecare and probably send it back. Whatever happened, the guy at the Apple store said they wouldn't swap it out.
I called Applecare and ran through the battery of tests that you described and was told by the man that I should take it back to the store (though he couldn't guarantee that they would swap it - but it was worth a try). So I did. The guy with whom I talked on the phone at the store was rather irritated when his superior read the notes input by the Applecare guy, which suggested a swap. She swapped it out and the new one has been just fine.
All of this was within two hours. Irritating and time consuming but at least they corrected the issue the way they should have.

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