[dcb]

Ok, just a couple q's when you get to them and before I forget them.

You got the LCD from NCK, correct? I don't know if any others would be significantly different or not, and don't want to know just yet.

Can you run it on just external power (i.e. a wall wart of 9-12 volts DC with a plug that fits and center pin positive, or that 9 volt battery trick)? Don't forget to move the jumper. Does it display correctly connected to just external power?

Have you triple checked the wiring against the diagram? I'm pretty sure the diagram is correct because I used it to swap in the serial board.

What if you disconnect pins 2,3,14,17,18,19? if disconnecting them all helps, is there a combination of pins or a single pin that the problem can be isolated to? Hit reset bewteen pin connection tests so the LCD will reinitialize.

Curious that you are seeing the opening screen, but the next screen is garbled. I tried to tighten up the lcd timing, we might have to try loosening it up a bit if nothing else is working.