Ok I did the 1st project in my nerdkit this weekend (temperature gauage), it worked fine ( had to do a little rework as I had a couple things wired wrong.)

I read that the temp guage could vary as the battery got weaker, just to see I got a new battery and hooked it up to see if there was a difference, when I hooked the battery in the ground wire popped out and I noticed a bunch of text and numbers quickly flash on the lcd, I immediately disconnected the battery. I reconnected the battery and now it doesnt work, I get 2 lines of black squares on the lcd. I tried to reprogram the chip and it just hangs when it gets to the part where it writes to the chip.

Is it possible that I messed up the MCU? How would I test that?

Thanks for any help.

Hi billtaichi,

Its hard to know if your chip is working without isolating everything you have around it. Your best bet is to put up some good close up pictures of your setup. A few more pairs of eyes can sometimes help you find something misswired.

Humberto

Ok I can post some pictures later when I get home, but the circuit was working then it wasn't after the battery incident. I double checked that all the wires were still in place, I am wondering if the ground wire from the battery lead popping out could have caused damage to anything, would that cause a spike in the circuit and if so could it be enough to damage anything? (using a standard 9volt battery)

Hi billtaichi,

It is possible that a dangling ground wire might have damaged your chip, but it is not very likely.

Humberto