Arduino Expansion Board

I'm having a problem with all components when I attach a prototyping expansion board to my arduino. The expansion board works normally seemingly everywhere except the 5 ground outputs and 5 5v outputs. Whenever I wire something to these outputs, and I plug my arduino into power, it won't start because I think it's asking for too much power. When I keep the expansion board on and wire into the ground and 5v outputs near the analog pins, it works, just not when I do it with the 5 ground or 5v in a group. Is there any way to fix this?

There are multiple expansion shields.

Knowing which one you have (working link) would be preferable.
Some have a jumper or pads to allow you to seperate the power supply and give the shield its own power.

Also what exactly are you connecting ? (details or links)

Even a hand drawn schematic of what your are doing might be useful.

Might I also suggest you read the sticky posts at the top of this section for future reference.

Bob.

Uh - how do you write something to the 5v or gnd outputs? I think you need to do a better job of explaining what you're trying to do here. Maybe post a minimal sketch that demonstrates the problem?

And yeah, you need to tell us which of the literally dozens of arduino expansion shields you are using; they are all different, as everyone has their own idea of how an expansion shield "should" be done.

Also what you have connected to it, as different devices will have different power requirements, so without knowing that we couldn't confirm or refute your theory. You cant pull much current off the 5v from USB (or from the regulator on the Arduino board), though.

If you have a voltmeter, check for shorts and continuity. Recheck your work on the proto board and make sure it's wired properly.

If your circuit draws too much current, try powering your proto board with a buck converter or external power supply with appropriate current rating, set for the proper voltage.

Probably first thing, power externally and test the current draw!

Additional details, as others have pointed out, would be very helpful. We can't read minds....yet!