More parallel problems

[Aceman]

Its me once again. My first attempt at a parallel LCD gave me trouble, but it turned out to be a bad LCD. I sent it back and got a replacement. The replacement did work, but only briefly. I did a quick temporary hookup to test it, and it worked fine. However, I went and did a final hookup and put it inside a case and all that stuff, but it never worked right since then. At first it would sorta work, but the text and stuff was garbled. I assumed there was something wrong why my second hookup, so I did it yet a third time and it got even worse. Now it doesn't work at all again. When I power it up, half of one line lights up solid (as apposed to one whole line lighting up like it is supposed to when it has power but hasn't been initialized yet). I can't get anything to show up properly using either the LCDPRINT.EXE program or Winamp plugins. What could I have done to mess it up? I was always carefull to double check my connections etc. I know hooking the power up backwords will really mess it up, but other then that I was told there wasn't much you could do to break it. Thanks for any help you can give me, but I believe its just dead.

[CF Tech]

Aceman:

I am sorry you are having so much trouble.

You can zap the display with static and cause a failure. Making incorrect hookups can toast things. I've fried displays right on the bench--most of the time I know what I did, but at least one time the unit just would not work anymore.

If your cabling system worked once and it is reliable (soldered connections, heat-shrink for insulation . . .) then it should certainly continue to be correct. If there is a broken wire or a short, that could give grief.

If you are disassembling soldered connections when you change the cabling, you may want to look very close at the traces that connect to the holes on the dispaly's connector. These can delaminate if you get them too hot, and then they are really easy to damage.

Well, there are some things to check . . .