What does it mean if your digital cameras display screen is black and looks like lines coming...?

You cannot see the pictures you take, but can you actually download them to your computer? If you can, then there are two possibilities: 1. If you dropped the camera that might have damaged the LCD screen. 2. Some digital cameras have a setting to turn off the LCD display when taking pictures, relying only on what you see through the view finder. Check your manual. If you cannot download the pictures at all, then there's something else wrong with the camera (which may have resulted from dropping it). Have you tried removing the batteries, then reinserting them?

...and processed by the camera’s processor. Not being able to display a picture after the shutter has been pressed doesn't mean the picture wasn't taken. You haven’t said whether you are still capturing picture on your memory card. Have you tried to upload them to your computer yet? If there are no new pictures (i.e. pictures since the display crapped out), then it’s your imaging sensor or processing circuits. If you can still take pictures and upload them to your computer, then it is only the display circuit or LCD itself. If its the former, then you have a major repair on your hands; if the latter, you can continue to use the camera, provided you have an optical viewfinder (like on film cameras) -- you just won’t be able to review your shots. So probably a major repair either way if you want to fix it. Or a great excuse to shop for a new camera.

If the screen is not showing the image (whether or not there are lines coming down), then there is probably a fundamental and expensive problem to solve with the display adapter. If this is a $1600+ SLR, then you should probably get it fixed. If it is a cheaper consumer camera, you may find that the cost of a new camera is roughly equal to the repair cost.

My Nikon camera book gives this trouble shooting possible causes for a blank screen: Batteries are not correctly inserted or battery chamber isn’t completely latched Batteries are dead AC adapter is not properly connected Camera is in sleep mode Monitor is shut off USB cable is connected AV/video cable is connedted I don’t know if any of this helps. You didn’t say what kind of camera this is. I’d read the instruction manual for it & see what it says. If that doesn’t help, take it back to the store where you bought it, or email the manufacturer of the camera for advise.

It means you killed it. More seriously, it means that the LCD is quite broken.