HP-71B Changing Lower and Upper Halves

[MikeSD]

I have a pristine HP-71B that is not working. it used to work but somewhere along the way, the zebra strip got damaged. At first it was intermittent. Now it doesn't work at all. I have seen some flickering of the display by messing with the strip but nothing makes it work.

So, I decided to bite the bullet and hardwire the connector. But there is no sign of life when I do that. I have several bottom halves and other top halves so I should be able to determine which half or if my connections are the problem. But with the differences I have noticed, I'm now wondering if a top needs a specific bottom. hmmm.