2x40 display oddity ......

[Dolphinicus]

When first powering up a 2x40 (BG Micro) display - has anyone out there every seen it displaying from left to right:  3 black blocks, 1 space, 4 black blocks (character sized) and then over 3 or 4 seconds, the blank space filling in vertical line, by vertical line - and the display turning off finally?

I haven't yet changed the system to know that it's gone from a 2x20 display to a 2x40; I haven't hooked up the ICL7660 chip, to change the +5V to -2V for the proper power; I HAVE checked wiring from core to 2x40, 3 times (maybe 4) now - and it's all correct.  (Though - realized at work yesterday - I'll have to check and see if I have the 10 pin connector plugged in correctly. ;) )

I'm just hoping that I haven't statically destroyed the display - by not being grounded when removing it from it's case. :(

Also - (remerbing reading this in the troubleshooting section) - I wondered if somehow I DO have the +B/-B connections backwards, as I DID see the backlight (dimly) come on for about 1 second and then shut off, after rebooting the core - two times.

Curious as to whether anyone else has seen this or not.  Thankfully I bought 4 of the displays. :o  My original intentions though, were to eventually have 2 sequencers.  I'm just hoping I haven't killed one of the displays, by not having an anti-static strap hooked up. :o :(

Thanks for any possible help. :)

Oh!  Also!  Does anyone have pics up anywhere, as to how you've hooked UP the 2 2x40's?  I'm trying to think of a neat/clean way to do it. :o :o

[TK.]

It's very strange, that the state of the backlight changes. It should work totally independent. It's just a LED, so when you swap B+/B-, the LED won't turn on - but thats all. It should not dimm

It's hard to analyse, if the LCD has been destroyed. With some LCDs this can happen very quickly when the plug is inserted the wrong direction, but as you've already mentioned, this wasn't the case... so, I cannot really help here :-/

Best Regards, Thorsten.