Also, was the unit exposed to any vigorous vibration or temperature changes? You might have a cracked solder joint where the LCD flex ribbon connects to the PCB under the display. A few other forum members have experienced this issue in the past month or so.
To answer your very 1st question...there is no hard reset. You can power cycle the device or reflash it's firmware and do a clearconfig 1234
That is essentially a hard reset.
Good luck!
