bad micro experience

[georgetwo]

Hi
I have been facing some microprocessor malfunctioning problems lately, I bet it is NOT a pleasant experience AT ALL. I think this thread will help me and others know your experiences with microprocessors, I would want to know:

1) how did you damage your microprocessor and what caused it ?
2) what unpleasant character did you notice ?
3) have you ever woke up to see your microprocessor malfunctioning (or ded for no reason)?

Thank you

 

[atferrari]

Have you found the mistake? THAT is important. Otherwise this post could bring anyone to nowhere....

Feelings, leave them for later.

 

[georgetwo]

well No. 1 and 2 shuld show the common problems due to mistakes when building projects involving microprocessors, so everyone will learn to avoid them if possible.
And No.3 tells me that I may not be the only one witnessing falts with unknown cause

 

[colin55]

I have never damaged a micro.

You live in Nigeria. Maybe you bought a clone.

 

[Sceadwian]

Over voltage is a number one killer, and they can be quiet accidental, short circuit current as well for things like I/O lines. colin's experience of not ever harming a micro controller are quiet rare for people that new to electronics and experiment. I've killed I think two micro's by accidental reverse voltage and fired re-programming critical I/O lines from short circuit. Basically if you read your data sheets and understand them you won't do these things, but a hobbyist experimenter will tend to do things to see what happens before understanding the consequences.

No micro controller anywhere dies for 'no reason' failures directly related to the chip itself are very uncommon, it's almost always the chip being exposed to something in the circuit it's operating in that it wasn't designed to handle.

 

[RMMM]

Static USED to be a big killer of micros.. It does not seem to happen so often.

At least I have not seen a uC problem in the forums in a while whos result was ESD..BUT. It can still be a killer.

In very dry climates more-so than humid climates.

ESD damage can show up in many odd ways... As an ADC that will not settle, as inputs that are outputting, fusses not setting.. and a few hundred more

 

[Sceadwian]

I didn't say static, I said over voltage. Give a 5V chip 12 volts from a stiff supply without current limit resistors and see what happens. A hobbyist will mix and match a lot of things they probably shouldn't out of lack of knowledge.

 

[RMMM]

Oh, I wasnt reacting to your post, I was just adding to the thread.

 

[HarveyH42]

I've got a weird problem with ATtiny2313 AVR Dragon programmer. I did a project with an external 8 MHz crystal, worked fine. The next time I tried programming an 2313, it wouldn't take, using the internal oscillator. Thought maybe a bad chip, so tried several others, same deal. Tried an 8 Mhz crystal, still no go. Order some new chips, and have yet to get one to program. The AVR Dragon, still programs everything else, just not the 2313 chips.

 

[mdanh2002]

I have killed some PICs, well not completely but partially, before. Some output pins were dead and always stayed at 0V even if set to 1 from code. Other pins always produced 5V for no apparent reasons. The affected PICs would eventually die (verification failed after programming). The cause, after much debugging, was the 8-ohm speaker connecting to one of the output pins in an attempt to generate keypad tones using square waves.

A few weeks ago I got a bunch (~20) of 7805 regulators that failed in batch. Output voltage is always the same as input, and not 5V. The last time I tested them was 6 months ago and they seemed working. The caused remained unclear.

 

[Ian Rogers]

I think you have to kill a few chips in the learning process.. Ah the sweet smell of burnt IC.. all the reasons given are due to bad design, it's how we get better at it.

Ian

 

[Jon Wilder]

I think the main ones who blow IC's early on are the guys who are just starting out on micro's with little to zero electronics knowledge, which is a bad mix altogether IMHO.

I've been an electronics tech for nearly 20 years and I just started working with PIC's in September. I haven't blown one yet and don't think I ever will. As long as you adhere to the specs and recommendations given in the data sheet you should have no issues.

 

[Ian Rogers]

What!! Jon you've never put one in accidentally the wrong way round! Kills it instantly...

Ian

 

[ericgibbs]

What!! Jon you've never put one in accidentally the wrong way round! Kills it instantly...

Ian

hi Ian,
Been there, done that.
Its not the loss of the IC thats a problem, its the dark brown smell you get. when not thinking, you try to unplug the IC.!

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

What!! Jon you've never put one in accidentally the wrong way round! Kills it instantly...

Perhaps you should move to PIC's then

They certainly don't 'die instantly' - I've still got a fully working 16C84 that has my fingerprint burnt in the top of it

 

[mynameisdan]

I managed to kill a PIC yesterday, solder bridge on the programming lines. PIC still works but is no longer programable
Other than that, I ran a PIC16F877A on 12V. It got very hot, and did some strange things. After I eventually found the "problem", it worked perfectly after

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I managed to kill a PIC yesterday, solder bridge on the programming lines. PIC still works but is no longer programable

You must have done something SERIOUSLY nasty to it

Are you absolutely sure you don't still have a short on the pins somewhere?.

 

[Ian Rogers]

Nigel!! 40 pin pic's are the ones you cant put in upside down" positive to negative".....On both rails.....at the same time...

Ian

 

[be80be]

I always use my pickit2 to power and test with It's basically foolproof.

The only chip I've killed was one of the first pic32 and that was because the pickit2 auto detected with 5 volts and 13 to mclr they changed that now and it will pick the right voltage for them now.

A pic is one hard to hurt chip I blown a 7805 hooked up backward and the pic still ran fine it was getting 9 volts the dang S&K 7805 use a deferent pin for out then most do
and i been using some national one's and ran out. I found a S&K and wasn't thinking
the pinout not being the same Like to burn my finger off when i touched it.

Pic still works

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Nigel!! 40 pin pic's are the ones you cant put in upside down" positive to negative".....On both rails.....at the same time...

Ian

I would imagine I've done just that a number of times over the years