Picstart+ Troubles

[freeskier89]

I purchased a Picstart Plus R4 and it was perfectly new. I am using MPLAB 7.3 and it does like the programmer when I "Enable Programmer" with a PIC16F84 selected as the device. Wouldn't the 84 be compatable with the R4(aka ancient) picstart? MPLAB says "This device requires firmware version 02.01.00 or higher".

Well, I also bought the upgrade module, and that doesn't seem to do anything. Is there anything special that you have to do upgrade the firmware other than telling it to download the OS? I have tried that and it doesn't fix it.

On Microchip's site it says that Picstarts R5 and lower may have troubles with the PUM, but do not let that deter you from buying it lol. Wouldn't I be able to program the 84 without the PUM?

I just need some advice on how to get it working.

Thanks!

 

[Pommie]

The R4 that I have has a label on the firmware PIC that says "PICSTART-16B1 Firmware V2.0" and is copyright 1994. If this is the one that you have then it is not flash upgradeable. I don't think you will be able to get it working with MPLAB. The software for the R4 was on 2 floppy disks. If you could get these then you may be able to use it.

Here is a picture of my 3 Picstart boards


The versions are
Picstart-16B Firmware 1.7 - C1992 - Rev 5
Picstart-16B1 Firmware 2.0 - C1994 - Rev 4
Picstart Plus - Rev 21

Why Rev 5 comes before Rev 4 I have no idea.

As you can see, there has been a lot of revisions.

HTH

Mike.

 

[freeskier89]

The one I have looks like the one on the right in your picture except it has an off-white shell. The ZIF socket is positioned on the opposite side of the board of the large chip. On the chip there is the text:

U2I PSF12000
FE4Dh 9/25/96.

The R4 bit is the last bit of the Serial number JIT971227053-R4. The device is C1996. It is a PicStart Plus.

It did come with 3 floppys for mplab. Do I have to use those rather than the newest version?

Thanks alot! I really appreciate your help

Oh, and the person I bought it from said it was upgradable. **broken link removed**

 

[Pommie]

It looks like they started the revision numbers from 1 when they introduced the Picstart+.

According to Microchips website, it should work with the PUM. If you have installed the PUM and it still doesn't work then you can send it to them and they will fix it.

Does MPLAB even recognise that it is there?

Mike.

 

[freeskier89]

Alright, I installed the old MPLAB IDE v3.22 and I am having a bit more success, but not much.

What I am doing is enabling the programmer and then these come up:

90% of the time > "Structure Transfer Unsuccessful. Please Reset Programmer. "
I reset it, and it gives me the same message.

10% of the time > "Command [80] not echoed properly. [8D]."


See, then occasionally it will say that it cannot communicate with the programmer and to check power and serial then reenable. This is all being done with the old chip, without the pum. I have a PIC16C84 in the ZIF socket.

The new MPLAB seems to recognize that it is there, but it doesn't seem to do anything when I try to download the new OS. The progress bar at the bottom says its downloading, but after that really there is no change.

It wouldn't be a problem with my serial port would it?

Is the older (v3.22) mplab even able to upgrade the firmware of the PUM to the latest version?

Thanks!

 

[Pommie]

I don't think I can really help much more. Perhaps you should try asking over at **broken link removed** (it maybe worth searching there as well). Or wait a while and see if anyone else can help once Europe wakes up.

Mike.

 

[motion]

On the ICD2, MPLAB displays a message to disable the FIFO buffers on the COM port you're using. Maybe you should also try it on the Picstart with PUM.

If you can't get the PUM to work, your next choice would be to upgrade the original PIC17C44 chip with the last firmware available for it. It's version 3.10.00. You program the chip with the firmware found in the PICstart folder inside the MPLAB program files folder.

You would need a new blank PIC17C44 chip (25Mhz or higher speed) and follow the instructions found on the PICstart+ help file.

HTH.