Could have been damaged in shipping. The rubber conductors supporting the liquid crystal glass could have displaced making poor contact. Or the control chip has gone haywire. I don't buy 20X2 but if I get a new 16X2, I aim to pay no more than 6USD for it. Search ebay. chinaecomponents on ebay is pretty good with quality and has free shipping to US (maybe Europe too). They ship from China. dipmicro on ebay or dipmicro.com has decent price displays but it will only be worth your shipping fee if you buy some parts at the same time. I purchase these displays all the time and have only stuck with one or two suppliers since their qualities are consistently good. If you look at my signature, you know I have several designs that involve displays 