LCD display weird characters

Question

Im a newbie. I have a problem with displaying text in LCD (16x2). It shows incorrect message in the lcd. Here is the code and the picture that gives the wrong output : Kindly help Thank you.

#include "SIM900.h"
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

#include "sms.h"
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>

// initialize the library with the numbers of the interface pins
LiquidCrystal lcd(12, 11, 5, 4, 3, 2);

//gsm
SMSGSM sms;

int numdata;
boolean started  = false;
char smsbuffer[160]; //message
String newsms;
char n[20];
unsigned char i;
//lcd
int sensorPin = A0;    // select the input pin for the potentiometer
int sensorValue = 0;  // variable to store the value coming from the sensor
int outputValue = 0;   // value output to the %
int outputValue1 = 0;   // value output to cursor



void setup()
{
  //Serial connection.
  //gsm
    lcd.begin(16, 2);

  Serial.begin(9600);

//  lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
//  lcd.clear();
//  lcd.print("   Wireless Public       via GSM"); //55 chars
//  lcd.setCursor(0, 2);
//  lcd.print("    Notice Board "); //55 chars
   Serial.println("GSM Shield testing.");
  if (gsm.begin(2400)) {
    Serial.println("\nstatus=READY");
    started = true;
  }
  else Serial.println("\nstatus=IDLE");

  //lcd
  // set up the LCD's number of columns and rows:

};

void loop()
{

  // read the value from the sensor:
  sensorValue = analogRead(sensorPin);
  // map it to the range of the analog out:
  outputValue = map(sensorValue, 0, 1023, 0, 100);
  outputValue1 = map(sensorValue, 0, 1023, 0, 200);

  //scroll = lcd.scrollDisplayLeft();
  if (started) {
    //Read if there are messages on SIM card and print them.
    if (gsm.readSMS(smsbuffer, 160, n, 20))
    {
      //lcd
      lcd.clear();
      lcd.setCursor(0, 2);
      lcd.print("SMS Received!");
      delay(2000);
      lcd.clear();
      lcd.setCursor(0,1);
      Serial.println(n);
      Serial.println(smsbuffer);
      lcd.print(smsbuffer);
      delay(1000);
//      lcd.clear();
    }
    delay(1000);
  }
}

Answer 1

The first thing to try is replacing lcd.begin(16, 2) with lcd.begin(20, 4). The image of your LCD looks like a 20 char by 4 line display. Based on your comments, it seems that the SMS part of your code is working because it's outputting the correct characters to the serial monitor. I would focus on the LCD code and connections to your Arduino.