There are no shields or connections to the board. Just the bare board.
Here is a photo of the clone I found in another thread. Exactly same board.
When powered up via the USB cable connected to the laptop, red "L" is blinking fast. When I try to upload, L becomes solid, and either red Tx or Rx start blinking once a second. The red "ON" is also lit at all times. I can provide you more detailed LED behaviour if you want.