Everything was going well on this project until I started trying to solder together a stripboard prototype. I must have shorted something. Now my nodemcu can boot and run fine, but only when I disconnect the display while first booting it. After that I can connect the display and it runs fine. Anyone have any ideas?

Also I bought a few even smaller WiFi/Arduino chips, the WeMos D1 mini, but these also have problems powering the 1602 LCD display.  Time to break out the multimeter.