8610 annoying mysterious empty banner on top of the screen

[seeyour]

i just bought a 8610 virgin mobile phone. i was messing around with it to see what all the functions are, and must have accidentally set something on. in any case, now there is this stupid white blank banner across the top of the screen, the same size as the grey banner right beneath it that has all the little icons. the white blank banner didn't used to be there, it just appeared after i fiddled with something. i don't have the manual and i can't figure out how to get it to disappear and it's driving me nuts. help anyone? it gets in the way of the display too, and blocks some of the words, like if i press menu, the banner somehow is always on top and blocks the top half of words.