Help wanted!

Verb4tim · Post by **Verb4tim** » August 9th, 2008, 4:04 pm

Hey! I know you are all propably sick of newbs asking the same questions, but here goes. I bought this LCD screen 4x20, i think its manufacturer is IDW. I also bought PCI parallel card Gembird (http://www.gmb.nl/eGMB/item_view.aspx?id=3246) because i didn't have any parallel slots in my motherboard. I happily assembled it but now im in a bind, i cant get it to work with LCD Smartie, i know i should somehow confiqure it by using some I/O values from my pci card. My PCI cards I/O values are EC00-EC07 and E880-E887 and i tried inputting them to LCD Smarties startup parameters but it didn't work out. I assembled my lcd screen using this:

Is there any hope for me?
Thanks!

EDIT: I just remembered that i installed port95nt too.

Post by **caesar** » August 9th, 2008, 8:45 pm

The diagram looks ok but why are there 18 pins on the LCD? it should have 16!
To use the PCI card, you have to enter $EC00 instead of LPT1 in LCDSmartie settings tab. If it doesn't work with $EC00 try $E880

Hope this helps!

Verb4tim · Post by **Verb4tim** » August 9th, 2008, 9:04 pm

Pins 17 and 18 aren't on the same line as the other 16 pins. The picture is little misleading but the other 2 pins (17&18) are on the right:

Dammit, tried $EC00 and $E880 but it didn't work

EDIT: 17 and 18 are there to add more brightness to the LCD

Post by **caesar** » August 9th, 2008, 11:08 pm

15 & 16 have a resistor in line with the display's backlight, 17 & 18 have direct connection. if you put 17&18 directly to 5V you'll eventually burn the backlight!!! better stick only with 15&16.

Are you sure the display is 100% HD44780 compatible?

Try using $EC00,a2 or $E880,a2 as display startup parameter.

PS: check your wiring another two or three times, use a multimeter and test all the wires. put a link to the displays datasheet. What Windows version do you use - port95nt doesn't work with 64bit OS's?

Verb4tim · Post by **Verb4tim** » August 10th, 2008, 9:55 am

Ok, thanks for the advice

Well im not 100% sure

Tried, didnt work

Here is the datasheet:
http://www.arianecorp.com/Dot%20Matrix/ ... VK2024.pdf

I use Windows XP Home SP2

I hope its because of the wirings, i can get my hands on a multimeter in the next day or so so i'll report back when im through checking the wirings.

Verb4tim · Post by **Verb4tim** » August 13th, 2008, 1:43 pm

Im back, i finally checked the wiring with my multimeter. The wiring was good so i think that my lcd screen just isn't compatible with HD44780

I have to get a new one..

But thanks alot caesar for your advices!

Post by **caesar** » August 13th, 2008, 2:44 pm

It is a very good idea to try it first on some other computer, preferably older as those have more powerful parallel ports.

Verb4tim · Post by **Verb4tim** » August 22nd, 2008, 9:49 am

Im back for a report. I borrowed my friends old laptop and tested my LCD screen but it was still the same as with my dektop computer, showing only 2 black bars. I bought a new LCD screen wich was definitely HD44780 compatible, wired it, tried to configurate it with Smartie but i still had the 2 black bars. Tested with multimeter and the wirings are good, i even rewired it but nothing. And now it doesn't even show the 2 black bars, only green screen. Im just so pissed off that i am so close to just giving up.

Any final advices, untill i through my LCD screens out of the window?

Post by **caesar** » August 22nd, 2008, 1:16 pm

can you add pictures of both displays as they look now with connections.
thow in a screen capture of smartie's settings and a picture of the parallel connector with wires.

PS: laptops are known to have weak parallel ports and not all can drive an LCD!