Problem with PIC Burner

[VR]

Hi there.

I've got a problem with a PIC Burner i've made recently, hope you could help.

Burner is succesfully found by P18, it passes all tests (VDD, VPP and so on) and PIC is correctly identified as "PIC-Typ PIC18F452 Rev. 7" (i'm not shure about revision, anyway).

BUT. When it verifies written hexfile (mios_bootstrap_loader_v1_1b.hex) it reports the following:

compare PROGRAM, ID and EEPROM :

-->744 errors in PROGRAM

-->8 errors in ID

-->0 errors in EEPROM

Start write Configuration

--finished

compare CONFIG :

-->0 errors in CONFIG

Errors number in PROGRAM varies from 730 to 744 and sometimes there are some errors in CONFIG.

I've tried all different timings but it didn't affect number of errors anyhow.

I also tried to burn it three times in a row without erasing it - not a big difference.

I also noticed, that "contense of PIC in programmer" is different every time i try to burn it. I mean, code could be anywhere, even in different panels.

Hope, you could help me with this issue.

Thanks a lot.

[TK.]

Hi,

this remembers me, that somebody had a very similar problem. After a lot of mail exchanges, it turned out, that he used a bad parallel cable to the PC. Are you using a new one? And how long is it?

Another thing what could be interesting: what is the Vpp voltage during programming? Is it stable?

Best Regards, Thorsten.

[tomcody]

  I had the same problem, the same numbers of errors, but I placed the PIC with the care to put the pins centred in the holes of the socket (and more deeper), after one attempt, there were no errors.

[audiocommander]

uhm,

I think I have similar problems with P18.

I just burned successfully some PIC16F's (I couldn't try them, but they seem to be okay, no errors or whatsoever);

but now I'm having trouble with burning PIC18F's. I passed all tests successfully, the burner is recognized, the chip detected, but I always get about 30 - 80 errors in PROGRAM, although there are no errors in ID or EEPROM. I tried to erase everything and then burning again, but this made no difference.

I have a new parallel cable, highQuality IC-Sockets, the chip is sitting right and good in the socket, 18 V Power Adaptor (no batteries - exact 12.51 V at the Poti) and tried it with two different PICs, both produce the same errors when verifying (with Bootloader v1.2).

That's very sad, because this programmer is a hell lot faster than ol' JDM.  :(

Maybe it's got to do with P18-Burner? PicBurner for the PIC16s seemed to have no problems...

I'm trying other cables tomorrow. If it does not work, I have to go back to the JDM :( :(

Keep you updated...

Cheers,

Michael

[Synapsys]

Hi,

When I first built the PIC Burner I had similar problems. I found that slowing down the timing parameters on P18 solved my probelms. Select the Options tab and then the Timing tab to set these values. I would try slowing down both the Interface and the PIC timing a lot and see if the problems stop. If yes, then increase each until the problems return and then back off a little.

Hope this helps :)

Regards,

Synapsys

[audiocommander]

Woahoa!!!  :o

You're a star!!

Thank you so much for that hint; I almost began to throw that damn thing in a corner.

It's running now after setting both speeds to half!

:D

Michael