I'm trying to do the projects in the book to make sure my knowledge on it is good enough before my class. I did the first one with the LED with the switch but it's not working? I've checked with the diagram and it's 1:1. maybe my breadboard is defective? as for the resistor I couldn't find the specific color-coded one so I went with a higher one anyways but not even dim light shows
(Yes I've tried turning it on and off again)
If that’s a 10k resistor, it’s too large a value.
See with the book NONE of the color coding matches the book
Show us a good picture of the resistors that you have.
Also, try some different wires as those in the image might be bad.
The UNO's power LED is not On.
And you should keep 5V on the Red Line
and GND on the Black Line, to keep things straight.
Start troubleshooting with the simplest setup:
Download a resistor color chart. As mentioned by LarryD, a 10k resistor will likely not work. But a 1k, 470 Ohm, 330, and even a 220 will do the job.
Skip the breadboard.
Just hold the one pin of the resistor and one pin of the LED together with a clip or anything at hand. Then connect the other leg of the resistor to 5V, and the other leg of the LED to GND. If the LED does not light up, reverse the connection.
Next, do the same but on the breadboard.
Finally, add the switch into the circuit.
If you have a voltmeter or DMM, you can measure voltages at various points in the circuit.
There may be some cause that your project is not Working.
Try these steps to get resolve:-
Check that you have the LED the right way round.
The flat on the LED should be towards the negative side, you seem to have it connected to the positive side.
Looks like the LED cathode (flat) side is connected to ground.
Yes it is sorry, just rechecked it.
The FIRST thing you should buy is a cheap meter. Something like this ..
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DT-830D-Multimeter-Continuity-Voltmeter-Ohmmeter/dp/B08BP5XLTK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2S2LZFUAGV2KW&keywords=multimeter&qid=1653799085&s=diy&sprefix=multimeter%2Cdiy%2C72&sr=1-1
I believe your switch may be wired incorrectly
and the power led on the arduino is not lit.
I've just tested a range of leds with a 10k resistor & 5V supply and they all light up enough to see clearly that they are on.
I have tried different wires to no prevail 
Assume you have powered the Arduino.
Replace the switch with a wire jumper to see what happens.
As mentioned, if you have a volt meter, measure the voltage across the components in the circuit to see if you can trace the problem.
10K resistor is too high. Try 330 ohm.
Maybe, but with any recently produced LED, it should still be readily visible.
Good idea.
The common problem with these little "tact" buttons is that the pins are too short to connect to the contact fingers in the breadboard. The pins generally have a little "kink" in them to cause them to be spaced up a mm or so from the PCB for which they are designed, and straightening out this "kink" with flat pliers may help.
See if you can get the LED to light with a simpler circuit. i.e. one without the switch to prove to yourself that the LED isn't blown.
You should check each component separately for easy debugging. There may be a fused led, broken resistor, higher value resistor, Arduino might not be working etc..
Yeah, I purposely unplugged it for the sake of the photo, it makes no difference.
