Black squares on LCD

Just got my 3pi. I ran the sample software program, with Atmel Studio 6. Now all I get is black squares on the LCD. Tried a different sample program with no luck. Any help will be appreciated.

What happened and what did you do between the steps “I ran …” and “Now all I get …”?

I ran the sample program, as described in Pololu AVR Programming Quick Start Guide. The program said that it compiled successful and the debug ran successful. Now on the LCD it shows a single row of black squares. This is a brand new 3pi, so I was trying to determine if this is a software issue that can be fixed or if there is an issue with the hardware. Thank You

The display showed the same blavk squares, when the unit was turned on for the first time.

You need to provide quite a bit more information before anyone can begin to help. For example:
Are the batteries of the 3Pi fresh and/or fully charged?
What are you using for a 3Pi programmer?
After compiling the sample program with AVR Studio, what steps did you take to program the 3Pi?
Were these steps successful in programming the 3Pi?
If not, what output did the programs provide in the above steps?

See this recent post among others, for examples: Need help for my 3pi - Unable to enter programming mode