Try turning off the phone, then remove the battery for a few moments then reinstall the battery. It worked for me for the blank screen deal.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using DroidForums App
The symbol with the small phone and "jiggle" to its left side means the phone has sound turned off. Use the right hand slider from the lock screen to turn it back on.
The unread message notification means you have an SMS message. Tap on the "New Message" portion to open the messaging app and read the message. If you hit the "clear" button in the notification bar it should make the notification go away without reading the message.
Have you tried checking for voice messages?