Pin 13 on the 74HC595 chips (the output enable pin, OE) is labeled as "G", and pin 8 (the ground pin, GND) is not labeled.
Both Pin 8 (GND) and Pin 13 (OE) need to be tied to ground for this design to work properly.
I saw "G" tied to ground and assumed that was referring to ground, and didn't give it a second thought. a couple hours later with the oscilloscope I finally figured out why it wasn't working for me- my OE pins were floating because I wasn't paying attention.
It's my own fault for not paying attention, but I'm submitting this just incase someone else has the same issue.
Pin 13 on the 74HC595 chips (the output enable pin, OE) is labeled as "G", and pin 8 (the ground pin, GND) is not labeled.
Both Pin 8 (GND) and Pin 13 (OE) need to be tied to ground for this design to work properly.
I saw "G" tied to ground and assumed that was referring to ground, and didn't give it a second thought. a couple hours later with the oscilloscope I finally figured out why it wasn't working for me- my OE pins were floating because I wasn't paying attention.
It's my own fault for not paying attention, but I'm submitting this just incase someone else has the same issue.