Best to always double-check circuits. They you check for shorts between power rails before powering up with a meter. I also sometimes do a continuity check from the rails to every chip on the board - always helps if every chip is actually getting power!
I'd recommend not bothering with cheap breadboards, high quality breadboards are much better/dependable. Among my faves are the AD series from K&H Manufacturing, featuring 6-point connection strips rather than the usual 5 (makes a big difference to convenience, 5 is a little too restrictive in many circuits).
Need to see the circuit to start figuring this out - did you check chips are getting power?