Trouble interfacing 16*2 lcd with arduino

[dragonwarrior]

hi everyone.
i am new to arduino programming.
When i interfaced JHD162A LCD with my arduino (ATMEGA 8) and uploaded the "Hello World "
program in the arduino library,i get blank (no display) in the first row and black square boxes in the second row.

I connected a 5K pot on pin 3 on the lcd and i was able to adjust the contrast of the lcd.
but why this problem ? please help me..

Any help will be appreciated..
thanks in advance..

 

[Ian Rogers]

Are you using the LCD routines within the Arduino IDE? Are you using pin 9 or pin 10 for 'LCD E' ?

If the contrast is adjusting, then the LCD isn't initialising..... Incidentally!!! Is the display upside down... An uninitialised display has black squares on the top row...

 

[dragonwarrior]

yes,the lcd routine is within the arduino IDE.
I am using pin 10 on arduino for LCD 'Enable'.
i see black squares in bottom row and first row is blank.

 

[Ian Rogers]

Have you an LCD shield? Or are you connecting directly to the pins....

Can you show me the code..... Or which sketch are you using.... I just want to check that the sketch pin definitions are correct.

 

[dragonwarrior]

since i have only little knowledge on soldering,i connected the lcd pins onto a breadboard and then to the arduino pins.
I use arduino 1.0 and windows 7 as OS. I am using arduino ATMEGA8.

 

[Ian Rogers]

First... When using a four wire databus... It isn't a good idea to use the RW pin... Ground this out and remove pin 11 from the init...

LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2);

Here is the wiring needed for that display..

 

[dragonwarrior]

Tats how i connected the first time,yet i do have the same problem.
I see no change in that.

 

[Ian Rogers]

Is there anyway to can check the LCD unit? It might be dead!!! Have you another one...

 

[dragonwarrior]

i will buy a new one and try..

 

[dragonwarrior]

now it works fine!!
There are few problems in the arduino lcd library..
I tried the updated library which helped me connect the lcd properly to the arduino and then it worked well..

 

[Ian Rogers]

Excellent news.... Happy programming