SURE 0832 display stops working with WIZNET Ethernet Shield is connected

I have a scrolling sign using four SURE 0832 units, running off a Duemilanove and Arduino 1.0. The library is from GitHub - gauravmm/HT1632-for-Arduino: A powerful library that allows an Arduino to interface with the popular Holtek HT1632C LED driver.. I'm using pins 2,3,5,6,7 and 8 to drive the SURE modules. I skip pin 4 because the current Ethernet Shield hardware uses pin 4 for the SD card. I don't know if it's necessary in this case, since the shield I'm using doesn't have an SD card, but I thought I'd eliminate as many variables as possible at this point.

The sign works fine until I add the Ethernet Shield, which is from Seeed version 1.1, produced late in 2009. When connected and powered-up, the shield blinks the pin 13 LED about once every second, but that's it. There are no signals from the pins that go to the SURE display unit, except for a short state toggle at the same time the LED toggles.

I'm including my code below:

#include <font_5x4.h>
#include <HT1632.h>

int wd; 
int i = 1;

void setup () {
  HT1632.begin(8, 7, 6, 5, 3, 2);
  wd = HT1632.getTextWidth("Art can make you rich overnight. . . . . .", FONT_5X4_WIDTH, FONT_5X4_HEIGHT);
}

void loop () {
  // Select board 1 as the target of subsequent drawing/rendering operations.
  HT1632.drawTarget(BUFFER_BOARD(1));
  HT1632.clear();

  HT1632.drawText("Art can make you rich overnight. . . . . .", 4*OUT_SIZE - i, 0,
  FONT_5X4, FONT_5X4_WIDTH, FONT_5X4_HEIGHT, FONT_5X4_STEP_GLYPH);

  HT1632.render(); // Board 1's contents is updated.

  // Select board 2 as the target of subsequent drawing/rendering operations.
  HT1632.drawTarget(BUFFER_BOARD(2));
  HT1632.clear();

  HT1632.drawText("Art can make you rich overnight. . . . . .", 3*OUT_SIZE - i, 0,
  FONT_5X4, FONT_5X4_WIDTH, FONT_5X4_HEIGHT, FONT_5X4_STEP_GLYPH);

  HT1632.render(); // Board 2's contents is updated.

  // Select board 3 as the target of subsequent drawing/rendering operations.
  HT1632.drawTarget(BUFFER_BOARD(3));
  HT1632.clear();

  HT1632.drawText("Art can make you rich overnight. . . . . .", 2*OUT_SIZE - i, 0,
  FONT_5X4, FONT_5X4_WIDTH, FONT_5X4_HEIGHT, FONT_5X4_STEP_GLYPH);

  HT1632.render(); // Board 3's contents is updated.


  // Select board 4 as the target of subsequent drawing/rendering operations.
  HT1632.drawTarget(BUFFER_BOARD(4));
  HT1632.clear();

  HT1632.drawText("Art can make you rich overnight. . . . . .", OUT_SIZE - i, 0,
  FONT_5X4, FONT_5X4_WIDTH, FONT_5X4_HEIGHT, FONT_5X4_STEP_GLYPH);

  HT1632.render(); // Board 4's contents is updated.


  i = (i+1)%(wd + OUT_SIZE * 2); // Make it repeating.
  delay(4);
}

One thing I should add: I have a NUelectronics Ethernet Shield that uses a different chipset than the WIZNET shields. When I add the NUelectronics shield, the display works.

Does the Wiznet shield have the 6 pin ICSP connector on the bottom of the shield?

Does the Wiznet shield have the 6 pin ICSP connector on the bottom of the shield?

Yes, it does, but it doesn't have male header pins on the top of the board, as do most other shields.

When connected and powered-up, the shield blinks the pin 13 LED about once every second, but that's it.

With my old w5100 ethernet shield, pin 13 appears dim (blinking very fast) when ethernet code is run due to the pin being used in some fashon by the ethernet shield. Does the ethernet shield work with the display removed?

I took a look at the eagle files for that board. It appears that at least digital pin2 (and maybe pin3) may be used for another purpose (interrupt?).

According to the circuit layout, you should be able to use digital pins 4-9 instead.

According to the circuit layout, you should be able to use digital pins 4-9 instead.

That did it! The display is working with the Ethernet Shield. Many thanks!

Ethernet Shield, which is from Seeed version 1.1, produced late in 2009

Note: This is just for that version of that make/model shield.

You should be able to recover the use of digital pins 2 and 3 by removing the resistors/jumpers on the "INT1" and "INT2" pads next to those digital pins on the ethernet shield.