The lcd panel is blank, otherwise works fine.

It sounds like the screen back light is burned out, on a lot od LCD screens they use a very tiny fluorescent tube to light up the screen and it sounds like this backlight had burned out.

The lamps are integrated inside the LCD panel. What kind of problem are you haveing with the monitors? see some pictures here: http://s807.photobucket.com/home/budm/allalbums

theo_christo, Get into my FIXYA profile and see if anything interests you or your BLACK or BLACK/BLANK screen symptom. Learn about the "flashlight" test that every "CCFL backlit lcd" monitor owner should know how to do and interpret the results of. 12fixlouie READ, READ, READ!

jcriley, If your SAMSUNG is not to old, try to get them to replace it or do a cash+old unit for a same model refurbished unit! You may have a monitor that has a "switch-mode-power-supply" that is in partial or full shutdown mode. When very strange and weird things start to occur with a LCD fluorescent lamp backlit monitor or for that matter LCD tv/monitor I would always suspect the culprit to be the SMPS!!! Get back to me lmistyrel@ aim or 12fixlouie on fixya after you perform SMPS evaluation test using the flashlight trick to see if the screen data is still being displayed even though the screen appears to be blank. It may only be BLACK, but not blank!! Read some of my other posts here on fixya and also visit a website www.ccl-la.com/badcaps.htm FYI !! It is run by another tech on fixya nickname "buddymc". If you do a second post, give us a little history of unit in question such as age and screen appearance just prior to BLACK SCREENof DEATH setting in! 12fixlouie

Its the ribbon cable needs replacing going from the deck to the faceplate

If the Psp turns on and you can hear the O/s " Operating system start up, your backlite has burned out. This is a common problem with alot of handheld products and isnt so difficult to replace. You will need the tools to open and replace including a new lcd or backlite. (Ebay.com) sells backlites and lcd combo's at a reduced price. If you are under a 1 year warenty give sony a call, but dont tell them you think its the backlite, ask alot of questions and see if its covered, mabye a full replacement can be sent to you only the cost of Shipping. Give it a try and if no luck mabye I can jot down the steps to remove and replace the backlite.
Notice: The backlite may not be the problem, if you replace the backlite and it still is un-functional, then you will have to replace the lcd. The backlight is easy to replace if you take your time and isnt as cheaper to do then a whole lcd replacement.

can you try an external monitor?

Sounds like you might need to clean the contacts on the back of the faceplate or the ones on the front of the actual unit.

ccfl ( cold cathode flouroscent lamp ) is the backlit feature of the lcd panel. If you see a blank screen but do see the output on the external monitor then you sure have to take it to the hardware tech to get the inbuilt LCD panel checked. it seems to be a electronic failure. Thanks Ashish.