Canon "Black Screen"

We have two Canon SD100's in the family, both about two years old, and
within 30 days of each other both went suddenly "blank" - the LCD
monitor, that is!! Nothing!! When you turn the camera on, you get the
on-screen "Canon" display for about 5 seconds and then it goes
completely blank. Through the viewfinder, everything looks great. You
can go through all the menus and they all show and can be modified as if
everything were normal but there is no image on the monitor. A try to
take a picture using the viewfinder produces nothing!! It's simply dead!

We have changed SD cards and batteries and nothing helps. We can view
images already on the SD cards, but can't take any new ones. My daughter
took hers to a camera store for repair and was told that she had the
dreaded "Black Screen" and that repair was over $200!
Needless to say for the "quoted" price of repair, this is more than a
new camera of a different brand!!(She got a Vivatar of about the same
capability for $149)

Anybody else have this problem? Any recommendations?? (Other than head
for Target for a new camera??

Big John