Is my LCD broken?

MIDIbox SID
1

The LCD connected to my MB 6582 used to work fine. Today it started showing just boxes or lines. I completely rewired it, and now the backlight doesn’t work, and jiggling wires doesn’t really change it. When I plug my other LCD screen into the MB6582, it works fine.

How fragile are these? This is the second or third LCD screen that’s done this to me. I’ve accidentally plugged them in backwards before, but that doesn’t seem to be the cause. Besides that, I’ve just been doing normal plugging and unplugging for testing purposes.

2

I managed to kill one of them too…

They are kinda sensitive to unsteady connections,

so I’d rule out a problem with your cable first, before replacing that Display.

3

I’ve accidentally plugged them in backwards before, but that doesn’t seem to be the cause

That’s usually a pretty easy way to kill a display.

4

ah ok…I did it a few times but they worked right after I corrected the problem.

At this point I’d rather buy a new LCD than redo those connections again, so I’ll just assume it’s broken.

5

Hi - I always make sure I’m earthed when I handle any electro-static sensitive devices. Electro-static damage may not always be imediately evident, so a device could fail earlier than it’s mean time to failure data would suggest. An earthing strap is inexpensive but I reckon it’s invaluable.

A

6

That’s happened to 2 of my LCDs as well. I never could get the backlight working though. (Not positive it has one. I think it’s supposed to though.)

It started fine…

Then slowly the lines crept in till it’s just boxes now.

When I switched them the new one was boxes, but I plugged it and unplugged it a few times and it cleared up.

Now over time it started to get lines and then blank and I fucked with it and got boxes again.

It has been stationary and I have not been plugging it in and out (or backwards).

The soldering around the trimpots and PIC and headers looks fine.

I’ve been meaning to post about this, I have just had other things I’ve been whining about in the meantime. I’m glad you mentioned this PingoSimon.

What kind do you have Ping? I’ll check on mine and get back. They can’t be that sensitive. We’ll get to the bottom of this.

7

I had a feeling it might also be electrostatic discharge. I do handle my LCDs a lot, due to constant testing.

JRock, I’ve used a few different ones, all from crystalfontz.com. The first two were 2x20, the other that broke was 4x20.

8

I think I’ve decided that instead of using a 16 pin IDC connector for the LCD, I’d much rather just manually make an 8 pin, a 6 pin and a 2 pin, and connect it that way. I did that with my latest LCD and it’S working wonderfully.