Camera turns on fine. I could view picture and all. Just that when I switch to camera mode a video screen is blacked out. Why is that?

Your have a "Display" button that toggles thru different display modes .. one of the modes turns off the LCD backlight .. that useful if you are in bright light and dont need the backlight .. you have a very nice "transflective" display that works great in bright light without the backlight ... you can get more shots with the backlight turned off on each battery charge .(about 25% more) .

so each time you operate the display mode button you will get a different display .. one shows a hystogram .. one turns off the backlight and one puts the camera in a normal mode ..

if everything is working right then even with the backlight turned off you should be able to go outside or any brightly lighted area and see the picture on the screen ..