# Arduino pro mini 5v - incorrectly reading serial data

**URL:** <https://community.sparkfun.com/t/arduino-pro-mini-5v-incorrectly-reading-serial-data/12379>\
**Category:** MicroMod\
**Tags:** avr-atmel\
**Created:** [August 29, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/arduino-pro-mini-5v-incorrectly-reading-serial-data/12379 "2009-08-29T02:04:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lostangel556](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@lostangel556](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/lostangel556)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/arduino-pro-mini-5v-incorrectly-reading-serial-data/12379/1 "2009-08-29T02:04:31Z")

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Hi all,

Thought id throw you an weird issue for my first post.

Ive the Arduino pro Mini 5v connected via the ftdi basic breakout board.

Up until several days ago it was reading the serial data correctly but now it almost seems to corrupt it on input.

e.g. im sending it an hex of #ffffff and it comes out as different ascii characters.

The strange part is that i can program it correctly as if i tell it in setup to turn some leds on then it does so, fine.

Any ideas whats causing it?

I’ve tried resinstalling the arduino software/drivers as well.

I have tested that my pc is sending the code correctly (via an serial port monitor)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lostangel556](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@lostangel556](https://community.sparkfun.com/u/lostangel556)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:31pm UTC](https://community.sparkfun.com/t/arduino-pro-mini-5v-incorrectly-reading-serial-data/12379/2 "2009-09-01T15:31:56Z")

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beleive the ftdi board to be at fault. have ordered replacement parts and am going to try it.

this time ill use header pins instead of soldering the board to it directly (seeing as my soldering isnt perfect yet)