Digital & Binary clock with thermometer & hygrometer

[Guest Nick1122]

Hi Im currently attempting this project for a school project and have had a problem or two.

http://www.electronics-lab.com/projects/mcu/023/index.html

I have all the parts, assembled it, tested the code to see it will compile and program, its all good up until the LCD.

The LEDs and Clock are working flawlessly, but the LCD is currently only showing bars for the characters. I have replaced the Shift Register and currently do not have a suitable LCD replacement to test with, I only have access to a 2x16, which should still be fine, but when I tested with it in the circuit, it showed nothing. This was prior to the replacement Shift Register tho.

I even when as far as removing the Shift Register and using MikroC to force it to display something. By this I mean I disconnected some of the LEDs and used their Ports as the data bits for the LCD. Still same problem of the LCD displaying bars for characters. 

The only thing left to test is the LCD and I'll be retesting that tomorrow.

The only difference between mine and the schematic in the project is that my LCD doe not have back lighting and I have had to attach a potentiometer to the LCD for contrast, as well as changed the programmer, since I have access to PICKit2.

Has anyone run into any problems with this project or know of any solutions I could try?