PicKit 2 WARNING

You can permanently destroy a PicKit 2 programming pod in an easy un-documented manner.

1) Tie one or more pins of a PIC MCU to ground; it does not help to have MCU program use the pin(s) as inputs. 2) Program then power up the MCU with the PicKit 2; you may need to do power down and power up a few times. ZZZZzzzzzaaaaaa:P:! No Poof, No Frap, No Zap; it just gets killed. As far as i can tell the USP port is not damaged; my 1Gbyte stick still reads OK.

And the damn pods are not cheap.

Reply to
Robert Baer
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Do you know what exactly got fried? From your description it appears as though the only overload path could be if the programmed micro sets one of those grounded pins to a positive output after it's programmed. That doesn't seem like it would be enough to destroy the PICkit2 to me. You sure something else funny isn't going on?

Err, yes they are, at $35 it's one of the cheapest official programmers on the market for any micro.

Dave.

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Reply to
David L. Jones

I have no such problems with this test setup:

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The PIC is always powered from external power in my test setup. But I noticed that the PicKit pulls VDD to low, if disabled, which was not much of a problem, because of my current limited power supply, but I think this could destroy the prorgammer. How does your schematic looks like?

There are some other programmers within the same price range:

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But you are right, there are more expensive ones, but then usually with in-circuit debugging support etc.

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Reply to
Frank Buss

It can only pull VDD low with a 1K in series, so that isn't going to destroy the programmer.

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The PICkit2 has in-circuit debugging capability, stand-alone field programming support, and can power your circuit under test with any voltage from 2.8V to 5V. And as a bonus can be used as a 4 logic analyser and serial protocol analyser too. Pretty good value for money!

Dave.

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Reply to
David L. Jones

On a sunny day (Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:07:10 -0700) it happened Robert Baer wrote in :

I am still using this one, wrote software for it to support every PIC I needed so far:

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Blow up as many as you want, less then 1$ part count.

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

"Robert Baer" kirjoitti viestissä:V7ednUh1WdnzXDDXnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@posted.localnet...

Have you tried updating it (tools ->Download Pickit2 Operating System) I have noticed it tends to lose its operating system if mishandled.

Reply to
E

And are you talking about ? the USB-Serial adapter?

Reply to
Jamie

The program definitely sets the (offending?) pins to input - the state of most pins of MCUs are unknown and random until the MCU program sets their state. The pod is definitely ruined as the CPU program bitterly complains that the pod is not connected (when it is connected) even after clicking on (retry) communications; even if the pod is NOT connected to the (offending?) MCU.

** You must be *rich*; i am so poor that i cannot afford to pay attention...i am Socially Insecure - $35 is a week's of groceries so the dead pod means i go hungry.
Reply to
Robert Baer

I use the same programming scheme; the +5V was not activated and i tried running the MCU using the PicKit 2 as the power source. That Cypress programmer is only slightly less expensive and i think i am better off using a "known" where all software and hardware are from the same company.

Reply to
Robert Baer

There was NO (1K) "protection" resistor (8 lines) from MCU to ground; at worst 2 pins were shorted.

Reply to
Robert Baer

Worst case i had 2 MCU pins to ground, NO 1K "protection" resistors. Made a rev to the board to fix that.

Reply to
Robert Baer

so far:

Nice. But..using unsupported PIC parts and have a fast computer - so i will pass on the NOPPP. That site referred to Dontronics which has 4 programmers; all of them are MUCH more expensive.

Reply to
Robert Baer

No, but i think that i cannot do that as i fully expect the file to be over a few megs in size (am on dial-up).

Reply to
Robert Baer

Sorry about the typo - yes; the USB port.

Reply to
Robert Baer

Huh? I'm refering to Frank comment about the PICkit2 circuit and it's ability to pull the VDD pin LOW. According to the schematic for the PICkit2 it's got a 1K series resistor in there for that.

Dave.

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Reply to
David L. Jones

The Cypress programmer Frank pointed out is not for the PIC, it's for Cypress micro's, he was just using that as an example of pricing.

I really fail to see how you can damage your PICkit2 based on your explanation of tying PIC I/O pins to ground. I think there has to be more to this...

Dave.

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Reply to
David L. Jones

That is not so with PICs. The I/O pins have a known state at power-up. The TRIS registers for all the ports default to "1" (input mode).

Dave.

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Reply to
David L. Jones

Megabytes on a pic? Its actually 27 kB zipped from microchip website

Reply to
E

Maybe you can build your own - don't give up on that idea too soon. If you don't like the NOPP, there's plenty more. Here's one example:

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That's for a serial port. For USB try
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At least reading about it is free. Building a programmer might save you some $ so it is worth considering.

Ed

Reply to
ehsjr

There is an *actual* (and correct) schematic for the PicKit-2 programming pod? Where, oh where pray tell?

Reply to
Robert Baer

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