Arduino Mega not identifying TFT driver chip

[lrich5908]

Hey all,

So I'm currently simply trying to get a TFT screen I recently bought to work with my Arduino Mega 2560, but I cannot seem to get it to work in the slightest. The exact model is found here:
https://thepihut.com/products/adafruit- ... osd-socket

To try and get it to work I have been following a guide linked by the store page (8-Bit Wiring & Test | Adafruit 3.5" 320 ... ing System)

I have followed the guide exactly, and have redone the wiring completely from scratch about a dozen times at this point, including the few times that I attempted to get the display to work with an Arduino Uno that I have (no success there either). The furthest I've seen results is in the backlight turning on when I connect the power. Following the tutorial I installed all the required libraries, modified them as needed, and attempted to run the graphicstest.ino example. The example appears to upload with no errors, however this still never actually leads to anything being shown on the TFT display. Instead, in the serial monitor the following text is printed:

Code: Select all

Using Adafruit 2.8" TFT Breakout Board Pinout
TFT size is 320x480
Unknown LCD driver chip: E4E4
If using the Adafruit 2.8" TFT Arduino shield, the line:
#define USE_ADAFRUIT_SHIELD_PINOUT
should appear in the library header (Adafruit_TFT.h).
If using the breakout board, it should NOT be #defined!
Also if using the breakout, double-check that all wiring
matches the tutorial.

I notice that the apparent issue here is that the Arduino can't seem to detect the driver chip, for whatever reason, where it should be detecting a HX8357D driver. I have tried absolutely everything I can think of, and have looked for any similar problems online but simply cannot seem to find a solution.

Any help at all with my issue would be very much appreciated

[blnkjns]

I have the guestimation that your problem is caused by wrong SPI wiring:
https://www.adafruit.com/product/2050
Unfortunately 95% of SPI tutorials (including many from Adafruit) connects modules to pin 10-13. They should tell people to use the ICSP header instead. Why? Because ICSP is correctly wired to hardware SPI on every board that has them like UNO, Leonardo, MEGA, DUE, M0, M4 etc.
Only on the UNO, these pins are shared with pin 10-13. So on every other board, this wiring will fail.
The ICSP pins are like this on every R3 compatible board, including the MEGA:

[adafruit_support_carter]

Please clarify your wiring. Are you trying to use the display in 8-bit mode? Or are you wanting to use it in SPI mode?

[lrich5908]

Please clarify your wiring. Are you trying to use the display in 8-bit mode? Or are you wanting to use it in SPI mode?

Apologies, forgot so say which: I'm attempting to use the display in 8-bit mode.

[adafruit_support_carter]

OK, please post a photo of your setup showing how everything is connected. Getting the unknown driver chip message typically indicates a wiring issue. See bottom of page here:
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-3-5 ... g-and-test

[lrich5908]

Sorry if the wiring is unclear at all, I tried to make the images as clear as possible

MegaTFT0.png (669.96 KiB) Viewed 296 times

MegaTFT1.png (778.99 KiB) Viewed 296 times

MegaTFT2.png (808.37 KiB) Viewed 296 times

[adafruit_support_carter]

Thanks for the photos. The header pins will need to be soldered. The display will not work otherwise.
https://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-solder-headers
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gui ... dering-faq

[lrich5908]

Thanks for the photos. The header pins will need to be soldered. The display will not work otherwise.
https://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-solder-headers
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-gui ... dering-faq

I had a shot at soldering the headers, and it works! Feel very silly now, but anyway thank you so much for the help!