Help with Jaycar PIC Programmer/Checkerboard

[Michael McHugh]

Hi all,

I built the Jaycar PIC programmer/Checkerboard a week ago and have been
wracking my brain trying to find out why it isn't working!

I've been over and over the board checking for solder bridges and the like.
I've tested the voltage to the pins on the PIC and they all seem fine. Even
the voltage levels on the pins with different inputs on the parallel port
look right!

The only thing I can think is maybe software as the kit was designed in 2001
and I am running XP. If anyone has had any luck with this, what software did
you use and what are the settings? I've tried using picallw and icprog. No
luck.

Any other suggestions greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Michael

 

[Michael McHugh]

I had a feeling you were going to say that Ah well, I'll install Win98
tomorrow and give it a go. Wish me luck, I'll let you know how I go.

Regards,
Michael

 

[Peter Crowcroft]

Hi all,

I built the Jaycar PIC programmer/Checkerboard a week ago and have been
wracking my brain trying to find out why it isn't working!

I've been over and over the board checking for solder bridges and the like.
I've tested the voltage to the pins on the PIC and they all seem fine. Even
the voltage levels on the pins with different inputs on the parallel port
look right!

The only thing I can think is maybe software as the kit was designed in 2001
and I am running XP. If anyone has had any luck with this, what software did
you use and what are the settings? I've tried using picallw and icprog. No
luck.

this is the problem with unsupported hardware. These 'traditional' kit
makers think that they can design a kit them sell/milk it for the next
10 years! With PIC / Atmel programmers this is not the case. My Kits
96 144 128 149 and 150 are having to be upgraded almost every month
because of new USB drivers, new PIC released and new operating
systems.

Jaycar used to carry my Programmers but decided to stop buying from me
because they wanted an Australia exclusive and I told them 'no'.

To get my range of fully supported PIC programmers where you can
immediately contact the designers go to

http://www.ozitronics.com

Frank Crivelli in Melbourne. 03/94343806.


DIY Electronics (HK) Ltd
Hong Kong
www.kitsrus.com

 

[Frank Crivelli]

Hi all,

The only thing I can think is maybe software as the kit was designed in
2001 and I am running XP. If anyone has had any luck with this, what
software did you use and what are the settings? I've tried using picallw
and icprog. No luck.

Any other suggestions greatly appreciated!

Regards,

Michael

Left click on the icon/shortcut for the software and select 'Properties'.
You will see a tab called 'Compatability'. Click on that and you can choose
to run the software under Windows 98 compatibility mode. This may solve your
problem.

Frank

 

[Michael McHugh]

Thanks, I tried that already, it didn't work. Tried doing it from a Win98
machine and still no luck. Think I will just cut my losses and buy one
prebuilt from Microchip.

-Michael

 

[Michael McHugh]

Well, that didn't work Think I'll just go buy a pre built programmer from
Microchip.

-Michael

 

[Michael McHugh]

Thanks, I'll take a look.

-Michael

this is the problem with unsupported hardware. These 'traditional' kit
makers think that they can design a kit them sell/milk it for the next
10 years! With PIC / Atmel programmers this is not the case. My Kits
96 144 128 149 and 150 are having to be upgraded almost every month
because of new USB drivers, new PIC released and new operating
systems.

Jaycar used to carry my Programmers but decided to stop buying from me
because they wanted an Australia exclusive and I told them 'no'.

To get my range of fully supported PIC programmers where you can
immediately contact the designers go to

http://www.ozitronics.com

Frank Crivelli in Melbourne. 03/94343806.


DIY Electronics (HK) Ltd
Hong Kong
www.kitsrus.com

 

[John Tserkezis]

I built the Jaycar PIC programmer/Checkerboard a week ago and have been
wracking my brain trying to find out why it isn't working!

I've been over and over the board checking for solder bridges and the like.
I've tested the voltage to the pins on the PIC and they all seem fine. Even
the voltage levels on the pins with different inputs on the parallel port
look right!

The only thing I can think is maybe software as the kit was designed in 2001
and I am running XP. If anyone has had any luck with this, what software did
you use and what are the settings? I've tried using picallw and icprog. No
luck.

Any other suggestions greatly appreciated!

Don't know if you've seen it, but a recent issue of Silicon Chip shows it can
be used with 2000 & XP. Look at <http://www.ic-prog.com> the checkerboard is
equivalent to a Propic II programmer.

IC prog actually works with a number of different programmers as well.

 

[Michael McHugh]

I have figured it out at last. Decided to ignore everything in the manual
and analyse the circuit myself. It turns out the suggested parallel port
settings are inverted! I now have it successfully working with both picallw
and ic-prog. I've also programmed a few different types of PICs in the
board. Now I can sleep peacefully

Thanks for the feedback!

-Michael

 

[Boozo]

I had a feeling you were going to say that Ah well, I'll install Win98
tomorrow and give it a go. Wish me luck, I'll let you know how I go.

Regards,
Michael

in software icprog.

Was the kit a project in Silicon Chip ?
Perhaps you could email them for a way to get around it.
Boozo.