# Breakout Board and Pins not working

**URL:** https://forum.makecode.com/t/breakout-board-and-pins-not-working/35091
**Category:** micro:bit
**Created:** [April 1, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/breakout-board-and-pins-not-working/35091 "2025-04-01T17:04:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![kfarrar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@kfarrar](https://forum.makecode.com/u/kfarrar)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/breakout-board-and-pins-not-working/35091/1 "2025-04-01T17:04:11Z")

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I’m learning to use a breakout board with my microbit and half of the pins do not work as expected. These are the pins 3,4,5,6,7,10,11 that are connected to the LED display and the buttons on the microbit. Whenever a plug an external LED into the breadboard it stays constantly lit up. Any thoughts? I’ve included pics of my set up and my code.

 ![IMG_7326](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/makecode/original/3X/4/c/4c5edf919a5ac31aee34c495113b214d232df9c1.jpeg)  
 ![microbit-screenshot (22)](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/makecode/original/3X/7/1/71afaf341174c67fbcf9504818c956503d5adb45.png)

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### Author: ![Don](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.makecode.com/don/32/17989_2.png) [@Don](https://forum.makecode.com/u/Don)
#### Post date: [April 2, 2025, 5:00pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/breakout-board-and-pins-not-working/35091/2 "2025-04-02T17:00:38Z")

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Pin 3 is also used to control the 5x5 led matrix. I would try it without the constant output to the screen via the clear screen block. In fact if you really want to use pin 3 I would turn the screen off with this

 ![Screenshot 2025-04-02 12.56.42 PM](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/makecode/original/3X/a/3/a34d5c8db7a233f23b005efe80e4067f84aaec5b.png)

If that doesn’t work try another pin that isn’t used already like 0, 1, or 2.

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### Author: ![kfarrar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@kfarrar](https://forum.makecode.com/u/kfarrar)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://forum.makecode.com/t/breakout-board-and-pins-not-working/35091/3 "2025-04-21T19:27:09Z")

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That worked! Thanks.