MakerBuino not working (only screen backlight)

📋 Support
#1

Hi, my son and I made the Makerbuino yesterday and at step 12 we got nothing! I double checked all of the connections, components, polarity and that we had the 2N2222 in the correct socket… the chip is also the correct way round.

We decided to carry on and finished the project. Again, nothing on power up except we have the screen backlight, which dims correctly.

Again I went back through and double checked ALL of the components, polarity, connections, chip direction etc… and so far nothing. I then went back and checked again! Help!

Also, one of our 4 pin I2C ports only has 3 pins, so I need to get another one of those.

As per other posts like this I have included Hi Res photos for checking by other (very supportive!) members.

Any ideas? Is it one of the blank chips? (We have no Arduino to reprogram it)

Thanks in advance for any help.

Eddie.

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#2

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#3

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#4

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#5

There were only 30 blank MCUs as far as I remember. Depening on when you ordered/received your MAKERbuino it could be that you got one of them. There is only one thing I found so far:

Are there 1 or 2 bridged contacts?

Solder Joint
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Solder Joint CloseUp

You can upload multiple pictures to one post! :slight_smile:
Just hit the Upload button once the first picture has finished uploading and then you can add more images.

#6

Hi, thanks for the reply and for looking. I’ve doubled checked those and it’s just a reflection in the picture, they’re not bridged.

Thanks again for looking.

Eddie.

Ps New users can only load one picture at a time… which I only discovered after I uploaded all 4!

#7

Okay sorry, my bad :slight_smile:

When did you received your MAKERbuino? There was a short timespan where 30 blank MCUs were delivered. @albertgajsak should know if your MCU was shipped blank I think.

Another error could be a faulty connection of the screen. Maybe you’ll need to clean the contatcs inside the screen. But I would recommend waiting for a response from Albert before cleaning the contacts.

#8

Hi again,

I checked that I have continuity from the board through to all the screen contacts. We received it in early August I think, we’ve only just found time to make it!

Eddie.

#9

That’s a good start but I meant something different. But that’s my bad because I didn’t told you exactly what I meant :slight_smile:
There was a change of screens at the end of August / early September. The old screens are using conductive rubber contacs but the newer screens are using a presoldered flexible cables. Which results in a better connection. You can see the difference easily in @albertgajsak’s post from early september: Erratic contrast [SOLVED]

Cleaning those contacts could do the trick but you have to be very careful.