Can any DSLR camera buffs help?

[h linamen]

Thanks for the various suggestions, but I had already tried all those before posting. No newer firmware, no obstruction to the LCD sensor and I'd reset the factory defaults. I sure hate to give up on the camera as it works fine taking photos and even displays photos on the LCD screen. It just won't display the "shooting settings screen" (that's what the manual calls it) when it turns on, and after alternately punching the playback button multiple times, sometimes it will then display the "shooting settings screen" without the top area showing info.