Screen is black - is the contrast set too high? Or is the screen bad?

I got two of these on eBay and they are personally owned players. Very nice condition with original headphones, pouch, and cable. They both have the same issue where the screen lights is just totally black and I can't read anything. The blue light lights up and the player can play music. The firmware is on the latest but I ran the firmware update tool hoping that it would reset settings but I still can't see anything.

If the screen is dead, it would be very odd to receive two nearly perfect condition devices with the exact same defect but maybe it's very common for these screens to just die.

Any tips appreciated! Thanks.