Two little issues (resolved, dead PIC)

[rrowan]

Are you using mplab or pickit standalone program?

If mplab then you need to get the standalone program. Link in the wiki to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Rick R.

[naztrain]

Alright, I fixed the LED2 problem.  I had the lower-left chip backwards    I don't know why I didn't notice it before...

I'm currently using MPlab.  I'll download the other one and try from there.

Thanks!!!

[naztrain]

Alright, I tested the standalone software.  Now we're back to erratic responses to DMX from vixen (slightly synchronized to the music).

[naztrain]

By the way, after erasing, the verify fails, and this is the error code:

"Address 0x4E4, read 0xFFFFF7, expected 0xFFFFFF"

Am I wrong to assume it's probably a PIC with a bad memory location?

[jess_her]

K now were getting somewhere.  Yes I do think you might have a bad pic.
Check this thread out reply #8   this will tell you how the programing sequence should go.

[jess_her]

so the chip in the bottom left, H11AA1???    Press reset on the board. Will 60HZ show up at the end of the boot???

Tired going to bed will check in the AM

[naztrain]

Yeah, that's the one.  It was backwards the entire time, but for whatever reason it just barely started affecting anything.  Up until I was troubleshooting yesterday it read 60hz, but as soon as I noticed the LED2 not turning on, it showed 50hz.  When I corrected the chip orientation it returned to normal and now displays 60hz. 

[jess_her]

I was just curious how the H11AA1 would react when installed backwards.
THX for checking .     Is that tread helping with  programming  of the pic using MPE utility?   
I'd ignore everything except reply # 8.

[naztrain]

I'm not sure which thread you're talking about, but rrowan pointed me in the right direction and I feel fairly confident that I'm using the software correctly.  I'm a CS major and I'm presently in a class where we're programming microcontrollers.  I get the feeling that I have been programming it correctly the whole time but that the target (pic) is slightly fried.

[jess_her]

yep' I think your right.  Sorry about the thread I thought I pasted the link.

[naztrain]

So is there anything I can measure to make sure I don't fry my next pic?  Is there a chance I still have something wrong on my board that's frying it?  I ordered 2 new PICs, but I don't have time to waste frying another (assuming I did the frying in the first place instead of receiving a defective PIC).

[RJ]

If you are choosing the pic in the pickit software manually and chossing wrong or setting the voltage manually you could program the chip with to high a voltage.

Should be about 3.3v no more than 3.6 listed on the programming utility in the voltage box. 

Solder bridge could be shorting out something damaging the pic.

RJ

[naztrain]

Thanks, guys!  I got it going.  It was indeed the pic (and wouldn't you know it, the day I fixed the LE, the Dongle died so I had to repair that in order to see if the LE worked).  It's been a nightmare but you guy's helped me through!

Thank you and have a very Merry Christmas!