Aria 10 LCD I2C address

Hi,

So we are going off of this sending sequence:
start -> address -> r/w -> ack -> display on -> ack -> clear screen -> ack -> cursor home -> ack -> H -> ack -> and so on...-> ack
-> stop

but our lcd is still not responding. It seems like it's communicating to the address but nothing is displayed.

here is the code:

module HelloWorld (
input wire clk, // Controller clock
input wire rstn, // Controller active low reset
inout wire sda_pin_io, // I2C SDA Pin
output scl_pin_o // I2C SCL Pin
);

reg [7:0] address_n_data_i; // address to write into
wire [7:0] rd_data_o; //wont need if uncommented above
wire [2:0] req_status_o; //wont need if uncommented above
wire io_sda_w;
assign sda_pin_io = io_sda_w;
reg [15:0] count;
wire command_i;
reg strb_i;
reg rst_ni;
reg [7:0] words [0:52];

initial begin
words[0] = 8'hFE; //
words[1] = 8'h41; // display on, needs 100uS
words[2] = 8'hFE; //
words[3] = 8'h51; // clear screen, needs 1.5ms
words[4] = 8'hFE;
words[5] = 8'h46; // set cursor to home, needs 1.5ms
words[6] = 8'h48; // H takes 3ms
words[7] = 8'h65; // e
words[8] = 8'h6c; // l
words[9] = 8'h6c; // l
words[10] = 8'h6f; // o
words[11] = 8'h20; // space
words[12] = 8'h57; // W
words[13] = 8'h6f; // o
words[14] = 8'h72; // r
words[15] = 8'h6c; // l
words[16] = 8'h64; // d
words[17] = 8'h21; // !
words[18] = 8'h20; // space
end

i2c_master lcd(
.address_n_data_i(address_n_data_i), // Address and Data
.command_i(command_i), // Command indicate read/write)
.strb_i(strb_i), // Qualifier which will Latch inputs
.clk_i(clk), // Controller clock
.rst_ni(rst_ni), // Controller active low reset
.sda_pin_io(io_sda_w), // I2C SDA Pin*
.scl_pin_o(scl_pin_o), // I2C SCL Pin
.rd_data_o(rd_data_o), // Output data on reads
.req_status_o(req_status_o)
);

parameter [17:0] max_count = 177; //15+(18*9)
always @(negedge clk)
begin
if(rstn ==0)
begin
count <= 0;
rst_ni <= 0;
end
else
begin
count <= (count == max_count)? max_count : count +1;
rst_ni <= 1;
end
end

assign command_i = 0;
always@(*)
begin
if (count == 0 || count == max_count) strb_i = 0;
if (count == 4) begin address_n_data_i = 8'h28; strb_i = 1; end
if (count > 14 && (count%9 == 6))
//case(count%9)
address_n_data_i = words[(count/9) -1];//8'b1011_1000; // function set
//endcase
end
endmodule

Could you point out what we are doing wrong? I've also attached the i2c_master.v we are using along with the top.v and the clk_divder.v...
wave forms onTB seem okay, but nothing is displayed when .sof is run on the aria x board

Thanks,

Yong