Post by thread:Help with home made programmer

Hi there! I have been making my own home PIC programmer. The hardware seems to be OK and now I am in the process of writing the software. So far I have managed to read the program memory and the EE memory from a PIC 16C84. However, I have not been able to read the ID locations and the configuration word. During my last attempt I did the following: 1. Send Load Configuration command. 2. Send Read Data from Program Memory Command. 3. Read 8 bytes of data. What I got was a string of 3FFFs. I have examined the data sheets and there is not a specific command to read the configuration area. That's why I tried the above. Can any one of you gurus out there give me a helping hand? It would be really appreciated. Have a Happy New Year. Francesco Cembrola

Francesco Cembrola wrote: > > Hi there! > > I have been making my own home PIC programmer. The hardware seems to be OK > and now I am in the process of writing the software. So far I have managed to > read the program memory and the EE memory from a PIC 16C84. > > However, I have not been able to read the ID locations and the configuration > word. During my last attempt I did the following: > > 1. Send Load Configuration command. > 2. Send Read Data from Program Memory Command. > 3. Read 8 bytes of data. > > What I got was a string of 3FFFs. I have examined the data sheets and there is not > a specific command to read the configuration area. That's why I tried the above. > > Can any one of you gurus out there give me a helping hand? It would be really > appreciated. > > Have a Happy New Year. > > Francesco Cembrola Dear Mr. Cembrola, why would you like to go the hard way an try to build you own PIC-programmer and even write your own software ? Maybe we can help with a complete programmer ? Our P16PGD is able to program over 45 different PIC-chips. And it is very easy to implement new PICs, simply add them to the parameter list. It is very low priced (only 198 DM) and it comes complete with the powersupply, the connecting wires and so on. The software is also included (it is shareware !) and it is updated on a regular bases. Have a look at our site at : http://www.git-online.de/home/bam-mon sorry, it's only in german right now, but it will be available in english soon. If you need more information (also in english), just contact us. -- BAMBERG & MONSEES GbR Systeme f|r Wissenschaft und Technik Am Postmoor 36 * D-28719 Bremen Fon +49-421-646775 * Fax +49-421-646785 E-Mail : spam_OUTbam-monTakeThisOuTgit-online.de

I'm doing exactly the same (just for the experience; no, I don't want to buy a commercial programmer) and ran into the same problem. As far as I can find out from the microchip documentation and some software from the web the correct command sequence for reading the configuration is - issue a 'load configuration' (with dummy data), now the PC points to (the first entry) of the configuration memory - now DO NOT issue 'begin programming' - issue a 'read data from program memory' which will now read from the configuration memory You could read this from p4 of the 16c84's 'EEPROM memory programming specification', but I understood that section only when I saw how someone else did it. Success, Wouter.

Il 04-Gen-98, wouter van ooijen scrisse: >As far as I can find out from the microchip documentation and some software >from the web the correct command sequence for reading the configuration is >- issue a 'load configuration' (with dummy data), now the PC points to (the >first entry) of the configuration memory >- now DO NOT issue 'begin programming' >- issue a 'read data from program memory' which will now read from the >configuration memory what do you mean for "dummy data"? Should i issue 16 clock pulses with DAT low? -- - *Alex* - (.....azummoKILLspam@spam@ita.flashnet.it)

Il 04-Gen-98, wouter van ooijen scrisse: >> what do you mean for "dummy data"? >As far as I understand the data (which indeed must be present!) is stored >and only used when you issue 'begin programming', which you won't. That's right... >So yes, the data is dummy (14 0's will do fine, 14 1's will do fine too, >both of course within a start/stop bit as always). Probably someone at Microchip would have read this and changed accordly the documentation.. i hope... :-) Thanks for your help -- - *Alex* - (azummoKILLspamita.flashnet.it)