Programming a PIC Microcontroller

[outwest]

I use two chip programmers to program PIC microchips. The programmers are designed for Windows platforms and both work on my XP machines. I'm now switching over to my iMac with Fusion 2.01 running XP sp3. Running under Fusion, one of the chip programmers works just fine - but, the other does not. The manufacturer is the same for both programmers (mikroelektronika) and, although they give great service, they are not able to solve the problem (which appears to be due to a virtual machine) - the problem is this: The programmer reports that the data received had errors. The number of errors it reports is the same as the file size (ie, a 500 byte file reports 500 errors). It also reports a missing SID.

I generate a good HEX codes (verified on other machine and programmer) so, it appears that somewhere between a good HEX file, and sending it out via USB to the programmer, it gets corrupted.

Does anyone have input that will help me solve this?

Thanks

[admin]

My guess would be a timing issue that one of the programmers is having problems with. In a virtual environment, USB packets may see higher latency (because we have to sort out where to route them and so on). Some devices are OK with the timing on a physical system, but time out in a virtual environment. Without a reason to the contrary, I would chalk this up to some combination of hardware or guest software.

For what it's worth, I regularly use a PICKit2 programmer with Fusion, no problems.

[outwest]

Thanks, etung.

The curious this is why it works with one of the programmers (easydspic4) and not the other (easypic3) the vendor say's no basic difference between the two programmer portions of the board. It does read, verify and erase the pic and suspect your comments re packet/timing/combination... may be the issue.

Anyway, I'm looking at my old pickit2 that died a few years ago and I'm thinking about buying a new one, but I didn't want to invest any $ without knowing if it would work. So, since you say it works for you, that's good enough for me :smileygrin:

thanks again

[woodmeister]

I also regularly us the PICkit2 programmer without issue, including its serial port analyzer mode, and the simple

logic analyzer mode. In addition, it also works well in a Windows7 VM, although everytime I plug it

in, I need to to a rescan of hardware. Some W7 or Fusion issue perhaps. Other similar devices that seem to work

without issue are:

Xilinx Platform USB cable - programs Xilinx FPGA and CPLD devices

Cypress PSOC Miniprog - programs their series of SOC miroprocessors

All work quite well in XP vm's and suprisingly work well in W7. Also, it "seems" like their

IDE's and build systems seem a bit snappier in W7. Haven't benchmarked them just feel that they do.

As a side note, been using Windows7 for a while now and it seems pretty nice. However, the

GUI and such sure bears quite a striking resemblance to KDE4 on Linux platforms.

[outwest]

Thanks!

I'm ordering a new pickit2 today (old one is fried). Still, it would be really nice to be able to use the easypic3 - I really like it... so, I'll keep this post unanswered - perhaps someone has a simple, "do this" solution...

Windows7... humm... Until recently, I've always been a Windows user - now, I've grown quite fond of the iMac and use Fusion/XP only to run VB6.0, SolidWorks and mE's Basic for pic programming with their development boards (excellent products - all with free lifetime upgrades). It's only the one, older programmer, that won't work under Fusion (maybe I'll consider a dual-boot using BootCamp...)

Thanks again ?:|

[admin]

I'm ordering a new pickit2 today (old one is fried).

How did you determine the old one actually fried? Mine's lost the configuration words once, which made it not work until I redownloaded the firmware.

[outwest]

etung, good question...

Once upon a time, a long time ago, I loaded it with high voltage (by accident). It never fully recovered. After that, I couldn't flash it with new firmware or updates as the software simply wouldn't recognize the device. Also, it is one of the very first product releases ( version 1.0) and the newer software/firmware will not run on the old units (per Microchip). I don't mind spending the $40 on a new unit.

I pretty much stick with dsPIC's now as they are super for my needs (scientific calculations that the 8-bit pics can't handle well). I need to do some USB work that an 18F will be just fine for (passing data). The easypic3 has a nice USB-pic interface, that's why I want to get it up/running, otherwise I wouldn't bother. I'll program the 18F with a pickit2 and plug it into the easypic3 aftewards.

[outwest]

Thought I'd follow up since I'm at this site with a printing problem (another post)

I did buy a PicKit2 and it works great with Fusion. Also, for some reason, the EasyPic3 started working after plugging in the PicKit - go figure!