Yep, pin 5 is tied to GND alright. The soldering and circuitry's a bit of a mess. I might put it up, but it might end up causing confusion instead of helping matters.
Funny you mention 4-bit mode, as that is what i'm using, but as we've agreed, if it worked on the breadboard, it should work on the trackboard.
I'll reflow the connections later, and test it again in the morning. If it's still not working, i'll report back with photos ready to go. If it is working, i'll report back the good news.
Should reflowing PIN 5 and 6, along with my data pin connections (11 - 14), be sufficent to resolve this if is in indeed a soldering issue? I'll probably reflow all the LCD pins anyway, but just interested to know, as i'm guessing it's a data transmission/initialization issue.
Thanks,
Garry