Thanks Beery. I see what you are saying. I can feel the connector has a lot of travel in the pins and sockets and don't think the nut in the picture is in the way.
I did ohm out the cable and everything checks out. I didn't flex it much while testing continuity, but everything checked out.
put it back together and same result....maybe I should order another cable.
I do get something on the screen attached to the PI. i see the 4 raspberries, then the linux text as it boots up, then a login prompt.