Weird Problem with Lesson 4 from a total N00b

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ZeNeece
 
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Weird Problem with Lesson 4 from a total N00b

Post by ZeNeece »

I am a total electronics newbie. I am on lesson 4 - 8 LEDs and a shift register.

I got everything wired up as shown, and uploaded the program to my Arduino Uno R3 and encountered some weird problems.

1. It never did exactly what the tutorial said it should do. The lights started out all off, then lit one at a time, then all went off, then lit one at a time. So they never all lit up together, which I think they were supposed to do.

2. After running through the above loop about 2 or 3 times, it would just stop on LED 6. LED 6 would stay lit.

I looked over the code and I don't understand how that could happen. So I thought it must be the '595 that is wonky. Am I totally showing how n00by I am? I guess so, because I ordered a couple more '595 shift registers and replaced the one with a fresh one.

This time when I plugged it in, all the LEDs lit up and stayed lit. So I thought I had to upload the program again, which I did and then they all went off and nothing else happened.

So I unplugged the 5v wire and plugged it back in. It ran the loop like it was supposed to for a brief time, then got stuck again! So I guess it wasn't the '595, right?

What the heck am I not getting? I have painstakingly gone over every wire and resistor and LED. It all looks perfect. How on earth could the program run differently every time? And fail after running the loop a couple times, when it did work?

Is my Arduino bad? Am I crazy?

Please help! I love the Arduino, but getting stuck so early is really frustrating.
Thanks in advance!
Neece

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Weird Problem with Lesson 4 from a total N00b

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Post a photo of your setup & wiring. If it is partly working sometimes, you most likely have a bad connection somewhere.

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