# 0.96” SPI Colour LCD is blank

**URL:** <https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/0-96-spi-colour-lcd-is-blank/10460>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [April 28, 2019, 7:29am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/0-96-spi-colour-lcd-is-blank/10460 "2019-04-28T07:29:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![citrusmaxima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@citrusmaxima](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/citrusmaxima)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 7:29am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/0-96-spi-colour-lcd-is-blank/10460/1 "2019-04-28T07:29:31Z")

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I am using the new breakout garden with spi, with the examples in the python st7735 library and the 0.96" Colour LCD. What are the pinouts of the 2 SPI slots. I can’t seem to display anything. It’s just blank.

What do I need to put in the configuration to initialize the display?

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**Author:** ![monglet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/monglet/32/1113_2.png) [@monglet](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/monglet)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 8:16am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/0-96-spi-colour-lcd-is-blank/10460/2 "2019-04-28T08:16:11Z")

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If you’ve installed it as per [https://github.com/pimoroni/st7735-python](https://github.com/pimoroni/st7735-python) and ensured you’ve turned on SPI in raspi-config you should be pretty much set. The examples listed specify in the code where they’re expecting the breakout; for shapes.py in the code is:

```auto
shapes.py - Display test shapes on the LCD using PIL.
If you're using Breakout Garden, plug the 0.96" LCD (SPI)
breakout into the rear slot.
""")
```

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**Author:** ![alphanumeric](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/alphanumeric/32/2729_2.png) [@alphanumeric](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/alphanumeric)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 11:51am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/0-96-spi-colour-lcd-is-blank/10460/3 "2019-04-28T11:51:54Z")

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Looks like there are at least three people with a similar issue?  
[https://forums.pimoroni.com/search?q=0.9spi%20category%3A5](https://forums.pimoroni.com/search?q=0.9spi%20category%3A5)

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**Author:** ![lastcaress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6de8d8/32.png) [@lastcaress](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/lastcaress)\
**Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 12:36pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/0-96-spi-colour-lcd-is-blank/10460/4 "2019-04-28T12:36:02Z")

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I seem to have the same problem. Can you try this : run one of the python examples (the scrolling-text or the gif) and without stopping it, reboot the raspberry. Will a display briefly appear? Thank you.

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**Author:** ![niko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@niko](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/niko)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 11:34am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/0-96-spi-colour-lcd-is-blank/10460/5 "2019-04-30T11:34:59Z")

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Hmm, perhaps the library isn’t setting the LCD backlight on correctly, I’ll check with Phil to see what’s up. On the Breakout Garden SPI, the backlight control pin is BCM19 for the front slot and BCM18 for the back slot. You can try turning the backlight on it manually too, with these terminal commands:  
gpio -g mode 19 out  
gpio -g write 19 1

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**Author:** ![gadgetoid](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/gadgetoid/32/13_2.png) [@gadgetoid](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/gadgetoid)\
**Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 11:51am UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/0-96-spi-colour-lcd-is-blank/10460/6 "2019-04-30T11:51:08Z")

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I’ve pushed a fix to the examples for this. You’ll need to either grab the latest examples from GitHub, or change the `backlight=18` to `backlight=19` to use the right pin for the front slot.

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**Author:** ![HOD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/hod/32/331_2.png) [@HOD](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/HOD)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/0-96-spi-colour-lcd-is-blank/10460/7 "2019-09-14T13:46:01Z")

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I have a similar issue. The SPI LCD breakout is in the rear slot but isn’t detected when running the install.sh (four I2C breakouts are detected OK). I’ve also tried the suggestion about GPIO 18 to test the backlight but no luck.

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**Author:** ![HOD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forums.pimoroni.com/hod/32/331_2.png) [@HOD](https://forums.pimoroni.com/u/HOD)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://forums.pimoroni.com/t/0-96-spi-colour-lcd-is-blank/10460/8 "2019-09-14T14:25:23Z")

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Oddly, it works in the front slot but not the rear (regardless of whether backlight is set to 18 or 19). The install.sh doesn’t detect it in either slot.

At least the breakout works in one!
