Chosen Solution
After replacing my cracked iPad 3 screen (which still worked, it was just cracked) with an iFixit’s Front Glass/Digitizer Touch Panel Full Assembly, the touch part of the screen only “kind of” works. Here is what I mean by “kind of” works: I have a passcode, so after turning on my iPad after I replaced the screen, it requested me to enter my passcode. The screen did not recognize that I was touching the numbers. I could “slide to turn on” and “slide to turn off” but touching in the middle of the screen had no response. It seems that only the top and bottom 2 inches of the screen seems to respond. I also can’t “sweep” up from the bottom edge to get the quick menu to turn “airplane mode”, “wi-fi”, etc. off or on. Same with sweeping from the top edge of the screen to see my notifications (which seems odd since the bottom and top of the screen seems to be responsive to swiping to turn the iPad off or to unlock the screen). I have since “restored” my iPad to remove my passcode and tried setting up my iPad as new. While trying to go through the menus to set up the iPad, I verified the screens ability to only recognize the menu choices toward the bottom of the screen and the “back” button at the top of the screen and every option in the middle of the screen was unresponsive. Do I have a bad digitizer?
You either have a bad digitizer or there is a problem at the connector. The best way to isolate this is to re-connect the cracked digitizer (if possible). If the old one has proper Touch functionality, then you have a bad replacement digitizer; contact iFixit support for a replacement. If the old one has the same problem, you could have damaged the connector or the small passive components surrounding the connector. Don’t forget to isolate the battery prior to disconnecting/connecting the LCD.
