photoncatcher:
It looks as if contrast in the upper line goes all the way up and that in the lower line all the way down (pictures 2). In other woreds: the display displays your text, but the text cannot be read because the contrast screws up! This points towards a contrast issue -- hence the remarks on the A0.
But that isn't possible given the way the contrast on the LCD works.
The contrast for all rows is the same. i.e. is not possible to have different contrast on different lines.
Like I said earlier it really looks like the LCD has power cycled and then hasn't been re-initialized.
An uninitialised LCD will display a row of blocks just like what is in the second photo.
--- bill