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PicKit 3 woes

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bryan1

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G'day Guy's,
Well finally got around to working on this pic32 project doing some beta testing for the new micromite and got a programming setup on a brandnew breadboard. The problem I'm having is IPE does say the pic is programmed and some hex does show in the output window but trying to read or verify the code keeps going an error and the pic just isnt working. On bootup the pic sends serial data out of pin 11 and 12 and nothing is showing on my scanalogic tool so that told me the pic wasn't programmed. I have done 2 separate breadboard layouts both checked and yet the still thing is happening so I'm wondering if my pickit 3 is bricked?

Regards Bryan
 
Hi,

Maybe you can try it on a lower end PIC and see if it works on that type first.
 
Having bricked 3!!! pk3's I consider myself an expert on this subject :D all my bricked PK3's will not connect to anything and if its bricked then you dont even get them recognized if you plug them in, so unlikely its bricked! So I would say you at least have the bootloader intact and if you plug in the pk3 and its recognized then its more likely the pk3 hasnt downloaded the correct firmware for the 32 bit chips. Its a real pain with the pk3 every time you change pic family say from 18f to 24f or whatever, it has to download 2 new files to the pk3 before it can communicate properly with the chip.
So try and program a 18f this will force it to swap firmware, then retry the pic32 this will force it to reload the firmware for the pic32, sometimes I found when swapping families it would corrupt the new firmware on download and I had to force it like above! But I am 99.999999999% sure its not bricked :D If you require it bricked send it to me as I do this often!
 
Hello there LG,

Are you saying that before you can use a 24F after say a 18F that you have to download 2 files from the Web, or does it just have to upload two new files from some directory on your computer?
Downloading from the web means you have to have an internet connection.
 
That depends, as i understand it there is a option to use the latest firmware (Ive never found it to turn it off), so if that is on the it must do it from the web, the reason I know this is because each time I have bricked the pk3 its been exactly the same way. I go from pic 18f to 30f,i was using a win7 64 bit machine (this is important). And on 3 occasions while it downloaded the AP and the other file, it hung while downloading. Depending on when in the process it hangs decides if you brick it or just mess it up a little. Microchip are aware and will replace no problem, they say the problem is purely win7 64 bit usb drivers.
BUT the files are actually on your hard drive so if you have managed to turn off the web download then it gets files from your HDD. BUT if your on a win7 64 bit machine you still risk the driver bricking the pk3.
I have a dead one here but cant be bothered to get it replaced, I now only use the ICD3 which has different divers so dosnt suffer. What I did for a while was use 2 pk3 one with 30f firmware and with 18f firmware, but I mixed them up!
I dont think any other windoze is affected except 64 bit, and I dont think win 8 is a problem.
So I am going to guess Bryan is using win7 64 bit
 
Stick a logic probe on the clk and data pins of the pic chip while its being programmed, see if there is any data flow, if not then you might have blown one of the line drivers in the pickit, dont put your logic probe ont he mclr pin unless you know it can take the programming voltage.
I've blown a pickit 3 too, but it took quite a bit to blow it.
 
Hi LG,

Where did you buy your PK3s from ?

Was thinking of getting one, thought most of its problems had been resolved but seems not fully.

When my PK2 failed Farnells ( trade a/c then) could not have been more helpful and go another one to me next day, the tech said don't bother returning the old one, we have a bucket full here already for the Microchip rep to see.

Wonder if they are still as helpful with the PK3.

While an ICD3 would be nice the £140 price tag is comparatively steep.

Wonder what the Olimex PK3 clone is like, assume it has the same basic programs / faults ?
 
Stick a logic probe on the clk and data pins of the pic chip while its being programmed, see if there is any data flow, if not then you might have blown one of the line drivers in the pickit, dont put your logic probe ont he mclr pin unless you know it can take the programming voltage.
I've blown a pickit 3 too, but it took quite a bit to blow it.
I guarantee he hasnt blown anything, I am going to bet he uses win 7 64 bit ;)

I got my first pk3 from Rapid but it dosnt matter where you buy it from, if it goes wrong stick a support ticket in, they send a new one, sometimes as long as the pk3 is seen you can reflash it, but thats a real pain. Inside the case is a tiny row of holes that you can put a header on to reflash, but so far I have managed to brick3 beyond reflash and each was purely uploading the new firmware. Best way is tuen off the firmware update option and let the pk3 use whats on your machine locally. for some reason I wasnt able to do that with mine. Another way around it is to use a VM on win7 64 and have xp on it, then when you swap chip families do it via xp then switch back to win7. A real pain I know.
The ICD3 is ace except they insist on that crappy RJ11 socket!! I have built loads of break outs for it but the cable is awful and breaks often.
They gave me the ICD3 the second time I bricked a pk3, this 3rd one is sat on the bench, I cant be bothered sending it off to IRELAND again to get another, so will stick with the icd3 and last pk3 we have. But mostly I am now using 8051 and emf32 bit ARM M0 and M3/M4 chips and boards.
Great Dev kits but no way would I build my own board for those chips!!! over 100 silly BGA pads! The 8051 chips from sil labs are really nice though, even some with built in wireless, I have there 868 (or whatever it is) MHz dev kit! with the rubber duck antenna on I had the boards talking at over 3 KM away on 5db power running off 2 AA batteries lol, was really cool seeing as the power goes upto 14db.with the little pcb antenna kit it cuts the range down alot but its plenty.
The kits were for something dad is upto, but they gave him so many I got a couple
 
Yeah the clones still use the same firmware! the problem is purely the usb driver on win7 64 bit, hence why a vm xp machine on win7 64 is ok to update the firmware, its crap that you have to swap firmware for different chip groups.
 
Hi,

Interesting, though good to hear that MC will readily replace faulty ones direct; just assumed I got good service from Farnells as I got the impression MC had asked them to replace the then Pk2s straight away so trade users would not jump ship to other micros.

I'm on W8.1 32 bit, so hopefully may not encounter the problems you suffered with W 64bit.
 
win 8 is ok, it hangs now and then but never in a fatal way (so far), is solely win 7 64bit and the stupid usb driver microsoft used.
 
G'day Guy's,
A couple of other guys did confirm the error when trying to verify so I'm sure the pickit3 isn't bricked. I had a go with a usb/serial dongle and found the data was inverted so the code was programmed in OK. I'm waiting for the snail mail to arrive with a usb/ttl dongle and whats the bet my sample pic's arrive from Thailand quicker than that parcel from Victoria ( only about 1500K away).
 
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