Well, I installed a Winstar WP1602B, 2x16 character OLED display in a project I'm building. Got around to wiring it to the microcontroller (Arduino Mega 2560) and writing a simple bit of code to test that everything is working. Well, no luck, display remains dark.
Thinking maybe these don't properly support 4-bit mode as with HD44780 based character LCD displays, I added the extra 4 wires for 8-bit mode. Still no luck. And yes, I did make sure to supply 5V to the brightness adjustment pin, which should set it to maximum brightness.
What has me really scratching my head, is that I've used these exact OLED displays before, though not with Arduino, but with a 68HC11 development board, where I had absolutely no problem using them, just the same as any other HD44780 based LCD module. So, I dusted off the dev board from where it had been sitting for the last 10 years, plopped in the OLED module, loaded up a program that I know I have used before, with these exact modules, and..... NOTHING! Tried another identical OLED module I have on hand... also nothing.
Am I going crazy here? I don't remember ever having any problems with these in the past, they always worked just the same as any standard character LCD module. Is it possible these things went bad just sitting there in storage for a little over 10 years (from the last time it was used, manufacturing date is actually 2007).