Many thanks xnsf. I'm literally banging my head against the wall. I looked at the board and found a good amount of tarnished black marks, so I cleaned everything again (about 9 Q-tips later). Once the board was done I moved to the ribbon to make sure everything was cleaned. What's a bit troublesome is the fact that when I look at the ribbon, the end is totally transparent with the exception of a tiny black dot at the end of the ribbon (the dots appear to be alignment dots). The question I now have is do you place the ribbon contacts on the center of the board contacts or place the ribbon back in it's original location? I put everything back together earlier (post a thorough cleanse) and still no luck. andaya replied earlier saying that he's got one (great news). I'm planning to buy his (if for nothing else a backup). Any thoughts on the ribbon?