New ifixit touchscreen fails on ipad 4 gsm

ipad 4 gsm :

replaced touchscreen with ifixit touchscreen and home button works but the touchscreen doesn't function at all. The digitizer seems to work fine. I think the touch screen is bad or I'm not getting the ribbon cable back in correctly for touchscreen. Can I test the touchscreen without installing it? Is the touchscreen independent of the digitizer ? The one issue I have is the touchscreen ribbon cable will not sit passively like the oem and thus the touchscreen does not passively seat even though the cable is connected.

There are plenty of how to videos to break down but "just reverse the steps to put back together " makes actual repair without expert help very difficult.