555 circuit problem.. could it be broken?
The problem lies in the duty cycle and the discharge times. 
In the circuit i've labeled R1 and R2 in the wrong order, so in the usual formulaes that are found i should've changed those up. 
In any case, i didn't pay attention to it. The duty cycle is more than 80% for almost all of the potentiometer range, as you can see in this plot (y axis is the duty cycle and x axis is the potentiometer value in kOhms)



My guess the 555 is just getting stuck at 100% duty cycle or something very near that. 

Sorry for the mess, hope this helps someone in the future.