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frustrated!!!!

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Kane2oo2

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hello
as you can tell by the topic i am a bit ****** off atm!

i have built a range of programmers
2 which i have bought as a kit from quasarelectronics
and the latest which is the NOPPP

i havnt been able to get any of them to work and its doing my head in!

does anybody have a suggestion for a programmer that WILL work on a
windows XP machine?
ive been looking at the JDM programmer ...is this any good? and has anybody had it working with an XP machine?

is it easier just to turn to another OS like 98/linux?

cos i really want to have a pic programmer that WORKS!! lol :roll:

(also i dont have much funds to buy expensive programmers)

so i would be grateful for any suggestions here!

Thanks
Kane
 
Kane2oo2 said:
hello
as you can tell by the topic i am a bit ****** off atm!

i have built a range of programmers
2 which i have bought as a kit from quasarelectronics
and the latest which is the NOPPP

i havnt been able to get any of them to work and its doing my head in!

does anybody have a suggestion for a programmer that WILL work on a
windows XP machine?
ive been looking at the JDM programmer ...is this any good? and has anybody had it working with an XP machine?

is it easier just to turn to another OS like 98/linux?

cos i really want to have a pic programmer that WORKS!! lol :roll:

(also i dont have much funds to buy expensive programmers)

so i would be grateful for any suggestions here!

Thanks
Kane

If it makes you feel any better, I just built 3 from various diagrams and software, none of which worked, (and I'm not a novice). Presently awaiting a Quasar USB one. If that doesn't work, I'll stick to my old one and won't bother using the newer pics which aren't supported by the software, I've wasted enough time.

As for JDM (RS232 powered) programmers, it depends (partly) on your puter's RS232 voltage. If you're using a laptop, it might not work. "Might or might not" isn't good enough for me, so I haven't bothered.

I also emailed Microchip and suggested they put up a circuit diagram for their version of a simple programmer and supporting software for their range of chips, but they haven't even graced me with a reply.
Mark K.
 
well ive had a look at some of the olimex programmers as suggested

although the more expensive ones look great i dont have this kind of money at the moment

so the PIC PG2 - Pic Programmer
seems ok and its only £7.95 so if it doesnt work its no great loss

if this doesnt work .. then i will just wait and go for
PIC MCP - MPLAB Compatible Programmer
which is £55
and if neither of these work ...i give up :p

Kane
 
Hi!

I've built the JDM programmer and it works on my W2K computer with ICPROG. ICPROG comes with a special driver for 2000, and I think it should work under XT as well.

BR
 
The reason it doesn't work under XP is because of a security option that isolates any direct app. to serial port communication. So any NT based computer will not work unless a hack is downloaded to disable this security option.

fortunatly i know of one.Head over to IC-prog.com and download the driver there. Then configure your software programmer to utilise the hack.
 
:D :D :D :D :D
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally i have a programmer that works!!!!

you dont know how happy i am lol ....feels like i have just given birth :p

had trouble programming at first ..."error verifying...." but then silly me realised i had it set on the wrong com port :roll:

all i need now is a test circuit for the PIC16F84A

Kane :D :D
 
Kane,
OK so you've got yours going, can you tell us how you did it please.
I had an "el cheapo" home made programmer working fine on '98 for a year or so and now have got XP. :x
I've tried everything I can think of and installed half a dozen "xxxxx.sys" drivers but I'm still getting nowhere.

Steve
 
Hi!

I have been going mad since months trying to get my JDM serial programmer work. Here is my short list of what I have gathered as experience.

1. Some old PCs, like 486DX do not have proper serial out signals, they are too weak.
3. Some older notebooks do not have proper serial output neither.
2. W98 or Me is always OK (except for 1.)
3. Win XP is a difficult case. The only one that works is IC-prog with Win2000/NT driver installed, but on on all PCs (great!)

First I installed IC-Prog on my home PC w/XP - I received two error messages (with no meanings!). I didn't want to mess up my home PC so I used 2 hard disks with mobile racks. One with XP to write progs, one with W95 and programmer. When I wanted to program device, I switched the HDDs --- how annoying!
I also have a work notebook w/XP and it worked the first time (IC-prog). 8)

I assume the cause of the problem is in the different service packs with security options, but this is just a guess.
 
As the author of a PIC programming package (WinPicProg - probably the first Windows PIC programmer?), perhaps I can throw some light on the problems with XP etc.

Simple PIC programmers, either parallel or serial port, work in a similar way (in that they don't really use the parallel and serial ports) - they actually 'wiggle' individual pins up and down, creating a synchronous serial output and input, along with various HT switching outputs.

Under 16 bit Windows (3.0, 3.1, 95, 98, ME) you can directly manipulate the hardware, so it's easy to drive the ports. Under 32 bit Windows (NT, 2000, XP) you are prevented from direct access to the hardware - in many ways this is really a good idea!. Assuming you are programming a PIC and someone trys to print using the same port (easy to do over a network), it's going to seriously upset things - under NT based systems the port would be reported as busy when the second event tried to use it.

BTW, I do know that 95, 98 and ME are also 32 bit, but they seem more like 'half way' from 16 to 32, and give us a little of both.

So to access the port you need to do so in a way that meets the requirements of NT, which basically means a driver. The one I use is a freeware driver called DLPortIO.DLL, this is installed ahead of WinPicProg which simply calls routines within it that 'wiggle' the pins for you, but in a way acceptable to NT.

Other programmers deal with it in different ways, as already noted IC-Prog uses a driver you can optionally select or not - I didn't do this as the DLPortIO.DLL driver will work on any Windows from 95 onwards. As all versions have been 32 bit only since I changed from Windows 3.1 they won't run on anything less than 95, so there seemed no point making a switchable version.

You 'should' be able to get a PIC programmer running on any version of Windows from 95 to XP, if you are having problems (and are installing the correct drivers for NT/XP) it's quite possible that even changing back to 95/98 might not cure the problem.

I seem to remember that Win98 is still the most widely used Windows system, it's certainly the one I still use - I've never seen the need to change to a later one, they seem to give more trouble than they cure.

"If it ain't broke, don't try and fix it!"
 
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