Well - Here's my verdict.
I de soldered - re touched every solder connection that might have been considered grey - made a plastic backing for my LCD - resoldered everything because I thought maybe it was just the contact between boards -
And it still had blocks.............
So - I desoldered again. Pushed all the pins down - removed/cut pins 7-10 off. Did not get the plastic off (I was to anxious to see if the new stuff worked). I cleaned up the remaining pins.
I recieved my NEW LCD today - blue background/white letters - made another plastic backing - soldered it into place - a bit more space between boards this time...
Plugged it into my car - and It WORKED!! HOT DOG!
It came up with Ver .74 - so I know I was re flashing the sketch correctly all those times.
Mine shipped with ver .73 when I initially powered it up.
So, Either pushed the pins and cleaning them up solved the problem / or my LCD was toast... Considering all the times I've soldered and desoldered that LCD who knows..
Thanks gascort for sending your MPguino to dcb - thanks dcb for giving me 1 more thing to try before I stomped on my MPGuino
Hey - dcb - if you want I'll mail you my LCD if you are curious. I'm done soldering for a while.