Dongle Chip Programming

[fjaust]

Hi,

I completed my first ever Lynx dongle tonight !!

I was programming the chip using my Pickit2 and ICSP28 board. I set up the jumpers on the ICSP28 according to the wiki picture (all L's jumpered). I then loaded the DONGLE2.HEX file and programmed the chip, then verified it. So far so good. Now, the wiki page says the checskum should be 0A6F but I got C233.

I just want to confirm what the checksum should be before I go putting the chip into the dongle as I don't want to have to pull it out again if I can help it.

Thanks, scott

[fjaust]

Also, what should I expect to see if I put the test jumper on?

thanks, scott

[bisquit476]

nothing from the test jumper, RJ has too much other stuff going on to get to that yet. When I first turned on the pickit2 programmer, the checksum showed C233, but after I read the PIC, it went to OA6F. Maybe read the PIC again, see if it changes,

Bill

[chrisatpsu]

i believe when you first turn it on, it tries to recognize what chip is plugged into it, but it doesn't automatically read the chip's programming.   so the C233  could just be a blank reading from not having looked at anything yet. 

[taybrynn]

I think I had my chip in backwards and did this.  I think I flipped it and tried again and checksum matched.  YMMV

I had a different problem while programming the tx/rx pic, as I had to change the jumpers on the pickit for the different pic ... I had
just assmed the same setting would work on both the dongle and the tx/rx ... but was wrong.  Showing how green I am.

That would be nice to have in the manuals, since I think I found it buried in the pickit manual and just searched for
the pic part# from the BOM ... than found the jumper settings on the pickit.

The Dongle uses PIC 579-PIC18F2450-I/SP, while the Tx/Rx V.2 uses PIC 579-PIC24FJ32GA002SP ... stupid me, I figured they were
all the same.  Looking at the chips for each jumper setting in the pickit manual, its clear you can use a lot of different PIC chips!

[fjaust]

ok thanks for the help, i got it sorted out.

when i used the PicKit2 programmer last night I used 'Import Hex' from the file menu, then write, then verify. this morning instead of using 'Import Hex' I loaded the file from the recently used menu and re-wrote the chip and it came up with the correct checksum.

so now i have two solid lights on the dongle. green and red both lit up, i am guessing that's correct. i don't have anything else to test the DMX output yet, in the next few weeks or so i hope to have the MR16 co-op parts in hand which will give me something to test. plus the SS co-op will arrive soon so I can test out my other dongle with the pixelnet firmware.

does anyone know the checksum for the pixelnet firmware? in the wiki is's listed as xxxx. I got 613B after programming the chip.

thanks, scott

[taybrynn]

Oddly enough, I also got C233 the first couple  times I tried to write the pixelnet firmware.

After trying a couple more times, it worked.

I did an erase and a verify empty, then loaded in the pixelnet firmware and did another write
and it eventually worked.  I may have taken the chip out and put it back in once.

Firmware Checksums (eff. 6/7/2011)

613B ~ Dongle w/PixelNet   dmx dongle pixelnet.hex

OA6F ~ Dongle w/DMX        DONGLE2.HEX

[michaelc]

Being relatively new to the programming your own PIC realm.  I've done many 16F688's  using my Pickit2.  For those I just ran the MLAB software and it worked fine.  Here are my questions.

1) Wiki says not to use MLAB but to use Pickit 2 or 3.  My Pickit 2 came with MLAB.  What am I missing here?
2)  My pickit 2 only has a 20 pin jack.  How do you program the 28 pin dongle PIC?

Can I use the simple Pickit3 breadboard jumpers shown for the "Barebones way to program a PIC18f with a pickit3"

[pk]

Michael -

I used the barebones programmer from the wiki You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login  with a PicKit 2 with no problems to program the uP for my dongles.

[michaelc]

pk, thanks.  that is the answer I was looking for.  I'll wire it up and see what I get.

[taybrynn]

I run a program that came with my pickit2, called "PICkit 2 v2.61" ... thats the program to use, not the MPLAB program that is also came with.

Don't run it unless its plugged into the USB port first, otherwise it complains and doesn't work.

[z327]

I'm having dongle programming issues as well. The PICKIT2 keeps coming back with "Programming failed at Program Memory address 0x000080"

I can't get it to erase the PIC either without an error when I do a blank check.

I'm using the ICSP28 adaptr with jumpers on "L"

This is a brand new PIC from Mouser. I've programmed all my SSC's and HUB with no issues. Any suggestions would be appreciated

[loveroflife96]

I had this same problem and it was simply the way I was erasing the PIC for some reason.  Try reading the pic, then click on erase, then verify, then blank check.  I think this was the series I had to go through to erase the PIC.  The error comes up when the PIC hasn't been erased and you're trying to write a new program to it and it runs into the old program that is already on it.  I'm not expert btw...that was just from my experience.  Hopefully this will help you out!

[Corey872]

Seems like I had something similar the first chip I tried to program (my first time ever using PIC)  I had the software running and plugged in the chip, but couldn't get it to work.  At some point I wound up plugging in the chip to the programmer, plugging in programmer to the USB, *then* starting the PIC programmer software.  At that point it declared it needed to download and install firmware and things proceeded normally after.

Might also double check you have all the jumpers firmly installed and you haven't missed/left any.  Seems like the SSC's were W and the dongle was L ?

[taybrynn]

Yes, you have to be careful because you have to set the pickit interface jumpers differently depending on what the part# of the PIC is that your trying to program.  Like you said, the Dongle uses a "L" and the SSC and SS Hub use a "W" jumper setting ... and there are a lot of jumpers to set or unset. 

Thats kind of a missing in some of the online wiki info and manuals, which perhaps could list the pickit2 and pickit3 jumper settings (maybe near the checksums?), but perhaps would become confusing since some might also use 3rd party clone PIC programmers which might have different jumper settings as well.   Overall the Wiki is fantastic, don't get me wrong.

I usually go to the ebay page for j1sys pickit2 (or pickit3) ... and then text search on the specific PIC and it'll show the correct jumper settings for that PIC.  You can also find on the pickit home page somewhere, but its a bit more of a search.  Here is the page I normally search for the pickit2 settings:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Also, there are updated files you can download for the latest PIC(s) from the pickit2 or pickit3 website ... and looks like that happened automatically for you.