LCD Lighting up, but not displaying text

Other Hardware Displays
1

I am sure this type of thing comes up all the time but I am at a loss as to what I am doing incorrectly. I used the "Hello World" Tutorial on this site (https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/HelloWorld) and am getting the LCD to light up. When I push the code to the Arduino, I get some oarnge flashing on the board at TX and RX. Then I get a solid LED on the main one. It's the LED that blinks when you run the "Blink" test.

My lcd appears to be working. The backlight is on and the pot can darken and lighten the 0 row as is shown in my images. But text never shows. Any idea as to what I am missing? Links to imgur below.

Thanks.

Imgur


Imgur
Imgur

2

I wanted to double check that I was the using the correct Resistor thinking that may be an issue. 220 ohm resistor is what is called for. I do have the correct one I believe. Here is a image of it.

Imgur

3

On displays that I have used, a 1K resistor (to ground) gives nice contrast (in lieu of 220 Ohms).

The LCD R/W pin (LCD pin 5) should go to ground.

How to post images so that we don't have to download them.