Flash won't work in Canon A720IS camera

I have a Canon A720IS and whenever I try to use the flash, nothing happens. The flash symbol flashes and the red light blinks, but the actual flash light does not go off. I tried taking the batteries out and resetting the camera as I was advised to do, but it only fixed it for a couple pictures worth. I have also tried changing the batteries to fresh batteries, but it has not fixed it at all.