For those who were wondering about warranty service/replacement and why I didnt just default to that, it wasnt about the wiring I'd done or anything like that, I was so torn between keeping the head unit stock in the first place, I thought I'd learn from the experience and give it a shot myself. Breaking it would give me a reason to put an aftermarket one in. I love this kind of stuff. Anyways, back to the stereo...
So I removed the brackets and cd/stereo unit from the back of the screen and inspected it for anything out of the ordinary. Everything looked good at first, then I noticed something very subtle. A thin piece of metal on the face of the cd/stereo unit was slightly bent (in the same area where a stubborn clip had caused me to pull a little harder than I felt comfortable with during initial removal). The metal was bent just enough to look as though it might prevent a pin or two on the cd/stereo unit from connecting to the screen portion (which I never removed from the panel). After bending it back flush, everything looked to match up well, so I tried it out. Works fine now.
My apologies for the lack of pictures, I regret not taking any and would love to point out the bent piece should someone have a picture of the back of the stock head unit...