> Hi guys,
>
> I have a factory programing adaptor used for updating some small boards I
> repair (Boumatic). It will allow altering settings in the eprom of
> PIC16F84's or reprograming the entire chip. It's old and runs on DOS.
>
> I recently installed XP on the old laptop that I normally use to run it, and
> now it wont work the adaptor properly.
>
> Perhaps one time in ten, it will read the old settings in the pic, but when
> I edit them and attempt to send them to the pic, it comes up with "Hardware
> Fault ... check connections, power etc".
>
> I didn't know whether it was my prog adaptor, cables, software or settings,
> so tried my desktop with XP. Same problem.
>
> After a lot of stuffing about I eventually resurrected a 15 year old machine
> out of the shed (running Win95) and it works fine. Phew!!!
>
> So the adaptor is ok, and the drive software  ... it must be in the settings
> of the serial port I'm trying to use  ...  although I compared the settings
> for both and made sure they were the same. Or some subtle difference in the
> way XP handles the serial port compared to Win95 ???
>
> Does anyone have any ideas what may be the problem. I'd like to revert to
> the laptop for my workshop jobs rather than have a dinasaur desktop taking
> up space.
>
> Regards,  Roger
>
>    

> Hi guys,
>
> I have a factory programing adaptor used for updating some small boards I
> repair (Boumatic). It will allow altering settings in the eprom of
> PIC16F84's or reprograming the entire chip. It's old and runs on DOS.
>
> I recently installed XP on the old laptop that I normally use to run it,
> and
> now it wont work the adaptor properly.
>
> Perhaps one time in ten, it will read the old settings in the pic, but when
> I edit them and attempt to send them to the pic, it comes up with "Hardware
> Fault ... check connections, power etc".
>
> I didn't know whether it was my prog adaptor, cables, software or settings,
> so tried my desktop with XP. Same problem.
>
> After a lot of stuffing about I eventually resurrected a 15 year old
> machine
> out of the shed (running Win95) and it works fine. Phew!!!
>
> So the adaptor is ok, and the drive software  ... it must be in the
> settings
> of the serial port I'm trying to use  ...  although I compared the settings
> for both and made sure they were the same. Or some subtle difference in the
> way XP handles the serial port compared to Win95 ???
>
> Does anyone have any ideas what may be the problem. I'd like to revert to
> the laptop for my workshop jobs rather than have a dinasaur desktop taking
> up space.
>
> Regards,  Roger
>

> IIRC, win95 and XP handle serial ports differently.  XP was based on the
> hardware model of WinNT which did not allow direct addressing of the
> hardware serial ports... you had to go through the operating system.  As a
> result, many of the old serial and parallel port PIC programmers that were
> designed to work on earlier versions of Windows failed when ported to XP.
> Again, IIRC, running these programs in "compatibility mode" didn't work
> either.
>
> I remember, once upon a time, writing a program that allowed me to program
> PICs using one of these old programmers under XP, but it did not work with
> all machines (perhaps because of the voltage level issues).  In any case,
> you are trying to use software that already exists, so this wouldn't help
> you in any case.
>
> I think you have a couple of options here.  If you can figure out what this
> old software is actually doing (could it be writing configuration values?)
> you could acquire a modern PIC programmer and rewrite the chips using MPLAB
> (or the like).
>
> Or you could save the old clunker as you have been doing.
>
> One other possibility would be to boot into DOS using a floppy or a CD on a
> modern computer when you want to do this programming and boot into your
> regular operating system off the hard drive at other times.
>
> John Hansen
> Coastal ChipWorks
>
> On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Roger Weichert<.....rweicherKILLspam@spam@bigpond.net.au>wrote:
>
>    
>> Hi guys,
>>
>> I have a factory programing adaptor used for updating some small boards I
>> repair (Boumatic). It will allow altering settings in the eprom of
>> PIC16F84's or reprograming the entire chip. It's old and runs on DOS.
>>
>> I recently installed XP on the old laptop that I normally use to run it,
>> and
>> now it wont work the adaptor properly.
>>
>> Perhaps one time in ten, it will read the old settings in the pic, but when
>> I edit them and attempt to send them to the pic, it comes up with "Hardware
>> Fault ... check connections, power etc".
>>
>> I didn't know whether it was my prog adaptor, cables, software or settings,
>> so tried my desktop with XP. Same problem.
>>
>> After a lot of stuffing about I eventually resurrected a 15 year old
>> machine
>> out of the shed (running Win95) and it works fine. Phew!!!
>>
>> So the adaptor is ok, and the drive software  ... it must be in the
>> settings
>> of the serial port I'm trying to use  ...  although I compared the settings
>> for both and made sure they were the same. Or some subtle difference in the
>> way XP handles the serial port compared to Win95 ???
>>
>> Does anyone have any ideas what may be the problem. I'd like to revert to
>> the laptop for my workshop jobs rather than have a dinasaur desktop taking
>> up space.
>>
>> Regards,  Roger
>>

> 2 questions:
> 1: Could you duel boot DOS using GRUB or other loader? This would
> eliminate the floppy. Or use a USB or SD flash card to boot DOS?
> 2: Could you run the DOS under Linux with WINE?
>
> On 7/21/2010 11:58 AM, John Hansen wrote:
>> IIRC, win95 and XP handle serial ports differently.  XP was based on the
>> hardware model of WinNT which did not allow direct addressing of the
>> hardware serial ports... you had to go through the operating system.  As a
>> result, many of the old serial and parallel port PIC programmers that were
>> designed to work on earlier versions of Windows failed when ported to XP.
>> Again, IIRC, running these programs in "compatibility mode" didn't work
>> either.
>>
>> I remember, once upon a time, writing a program that allowed me to program
>> PICs using one of these old programmers under XP, but it did not work with
>> all machines (perhaps because of the voltage level issues).  In any case,
>> you are trying to use software that already exists, so this wouldn't help
>> you in any case.
>>
>> I think you have a couple of options here.  If you can figure out what this
>> old software is actually doing (could it be writing configuration values?)
>> you could acquire a modern PIC programmer and rewrite the chips using MPLAB
>> (or the like).
>>
>> Or you could save the old clunker as you have been doing.
>>
>> One other possibility would be to boot into DOS using a floppy or a CD on a
>> modern computer when you want to do this programming and boot into your
>> regular operating system off the hard drive at other times.
>>
>> John Hansen
>> Coastal ChipWorks
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Roger Weichert<.....rweicherKILLspam.....bigpond.net.au>wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Hi guys,
>>>
>>> I have a factory programing adaptor used for updating some small boards I
>>> repair (Boumatic). It will allow altering settings in the eprom of
>>> PIC16F84's or reprograming the entire chip. It's old and runs on DOS.
>>>
>>> I recently installed XP on the old laptop that I normally use to run it,
>>> and
>>> now it wont work the adaptor properly.
>>>
>>> Perhaps one time in ten, it will read the old settings in the pic, but when
>>> I edit them and attempt to send them to the pic, it comes up with "Hardware
>>> Fault ... check connections, power etc".
>>>
>>> I didn't know whether it was my prog adaptor, cables, software or settings,
>>> so tried my desktop with XP. Same problem.
>>>
>>> After a lot of stuffing about I eventually resurrected a 15 year old
>>> machine
>>> out of the shed (running Win95) and it works fine. Phew!!!
>>>
>>> So the adaptor is ok, and the drive software  ... it must be in the
>>> settings
>>> of the serial port I'm trying to use  ...  although I compared the settings
>>> for both and made sure they were the same. Or some subtle difference in the
>>> way XP handles the serial port compared to Win95 ???
>>>
>>> Does anyone have any ideas what may be the problem. I'd like to revert to
>>> the laptop for my workshop jobs rather than have a dinasaur desktop taking
>>> up space.
>>>
>>> Regards,  Roger
>>>

> As I understand, some (many?) laptops and maybe desktops do not provide
> the RS-232 voltage levels of +/- 12 VDC, but maybe TTL levels, and/or no
> negative voltages. Also there may be an issue of providing enough power.
> I assume the laptop has USB ports available. You might look at an
> USB/RS-232 adapter, noting that some of those adapters may not provide
> the necessary voltage/amperage. Might look at
> www.scantool.net/accessories/usb-to-rs232-converter.html
> I don't know if that will do the job, but seems like it might, and at
> $13, that's hard to beat. I recently got a Nettop, with no RS-232, but
> has 3 USB. Am considering getting one to talk to PIC embedded systems
> and a PLC.

>I seem to remember something from my old ICD1 which used the serial port.
>It would not work properly when FIFO buffer was enabled on the com port.
>Try clicking start/control panel/system/hardware/device manager/ports
>Then double click on your com port, then click port settings/advanced
>Then uncheck "use FIFO buffers" checkbox. Click ok on all open windows
>And give it a try. Don't know if that will fix it with your programmer
>board, but it was necessary to make the ICD 1 work on the com port in XP.
>
>And ,yes, XP does do some very strange things with com and parallel ports.

>I think you have a couple of options here.  If you can figure out what this
>old software is actually doing (could it be writing configuration values?)
>you could acquire a modern PIC programmer and rewrite the chips using MPLAB
>(or the like).
>
>Or you could save the old clunker as you have been doing.
>
>One other possibility would be to boot into DOS using a floppy or a CD on a
>modern computer when you want to do this programming and boot into your
>regular operating system off the hard drive at other times.

> Well, I had a go at a couple of the suggestions, but so far no joy.
>
> First I tried unchecking the FIFO buffer checkbox and several other
> variations. Then I tried the USB to serial adaptor, but again, no go.
>
> The USB adaptor certainly works, because I've used it for another
> communications job witth an RFID reader, and it worked at first attempt
> which really surprised me.
>
> I got a reasonable number of my boards going, so I'll have another attempt
> with the next batch.
>
> Next, I'll have to try booting into DOS via a floppy  ..  once I work out
> how it's done.
>
> Thanks for all the help.
>
> Regards,   Roger
>
>
>