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I'm from georgia P.S. so the reasin is in lack of voltage on MCLR yes? what if just putting 1.5V battery in series from RS232 V++ to MCLR? Like rs232-Vbattery-MCLR? are the other voltages enough? and when not programming, just 1.5V will be on that pin and it won't make any problems yes?
You could try I tested maybe 50 jdm style programmers some work a little better then the rest but if your serial post is low they don't work right You need you a pickit2 or clone of one if you want to make one like this Pm me and I'll tell you how to get a 18f2550 with pickit2 firmware on it for free.