 Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me. |
Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Windows XP, Windows 7 and the PICkit3
| Author | Message | ||||
Lou Senior Member  Joined: 01/02/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 229 |
Hi Guys, A week ago I put Windows 7 on the PC I use for the Micromite. When I tried to run MPLAB IPE to program a chip I ran into the same problem Zonker had trying to program his chips using the PICkit3 under Windows 7. MPLAB IPE behaves differently under Windows 7 than it did under XP. Under XP you had to connect the PICkit3 to the target device then hit CONNECT beside the TOOL or you would get an error. Now under Windows 7 the PICkit3 MUST NOT be connected to the target device when you hit CONNECT or you will get an error and can't program the chip. Here is the procedure that fixed the problem for me and Zonker: 1. Start MPLAB IPE without the PICkit3 connected to the target but connected to the USB port. 2. Select the MX32 family of chips. 3. Select the PIC32MX150B for the 28 pinner (or PIC32MX150D for the 44 pinner). 4. Select 'Apply'. 5. Select File, Import, Hex then point to where the Hex files are stored (in 'Look In') and double click the Hex file you want to load. 6. Click on "Connect' by the PICkit3 tool (make sure the PICkit3 is NOT connected to the target). This will give you the 'Target not found error in red'. 7. Now connect the PICkit3 to the target, make sure the target is powered up at this time. 8. Now you can hit "Program' or 'Verify" or whatever and it will work. It doesn't say 'Target Detected' like it used to in XP but it programs, verifies, etc. now. Hope this helps anyone having problems. Lou Microcontrollers - the other white meat |
||||
| MOBI Guru  Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Beats me! I have been using pickit3 with windows 7 for some time now and it doesn't seem to matter how I start it, it always works without any errors. I'm using a Toshiba 32bit laptop. I do seem to recall that I had to load a driver of some sort but that came with the MPLAB IPE/IDE download. David M. |
||||
| Lou Senior Member Joined: 01/02/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 229 |
MOBI said: I'm using a Toshiba 32bit laptop.
That may be the key, I was using 32 bit XP and loaded the 64 bit Windows 7 pro version on my desktop machine. Like you I had no problems programming, except for an error message, no matter how I started the PICkit3 with the 32 bit XP system, until I loaded the 64 bit Windows 7. I don't know if the 64 bits made a difference or not but it sure behaves differently... Or maybe you loaded a driver I didn't load. Who knows with Billyware ?? Lou Microcontrollers - the other white meat |
||||
| MOBI Guru Joined: 02/12/2012 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
Polite Giggle. I've never heard it called that before. I couldn't count the times I have said "thanks very much Mr Gates!" Especially when he pinched control of the serial bus. David M. |
||||
| Lou Senior Member Joined: 01/02/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 229 |
MOBI wrote: I couldn't count the times I have said "thanks very much Mr Gates!" Especially when he pinched control of the serial bus.
Amen to that... and he used ALL the timers.
Lou Microcontrollers - the other white meat |
||||
| WhiteWizzard Guru Joined: 05/04/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2932 |
I have Win XP and Win 7 (both 32bit & 64bit) and don't have a 'sequence' issue when using PicKit3. I am using MPLab IDE v8.9. Note I am NOT using MPLabX as I had inconsistent issues with this (maybe connection sequence but didn't spend too long looking into this). One thing worth asking - are you using a genuine MicroChip PicKit3? There are many PicKit3 clones out there and I know of people that have bought a cheap PicKit3 and then wondered why it didn't work properly. Most of the time (but not always), their problems were resolved by using a known genuine unit. Other issues were typically MS software configuaration settings - good luck in this scenario 
Lou/Zonker - you may want to use PicKit3's 'Programmer-to-Go' function when loading Geoff's firmware into your 28pin Proto Module. Trust me, this will save you a lot of time compared to doing each Module one at a time on the computer. For example, I have it down to under 10seconds per Module so now I don't mind when Geoff brings out his next Beta release
|
||||
| Lou Senior Member Joined: 01/02/2014 Location: United StatesPosts: 229 |
Hi Wiz, Yes, I forgot to mention I'm using MPLabX IPE v2.05. I had trouble with MPLabX IDE also, but the old non-X version won't do many of the PIC micro's especially the new ones. Maybe I can expect even more troubles with X and Windows 7, who knows. Me and Zonker are both using genuine MicroChip PICkit3's. Thanks, I never thought of using the PICkit3's 'Programmer-to-Go' function, that's a great idea. I have the 44 the boards you sent to Zonker for evaluation, most excellent job all the way around. Have you received the Zonker boards yet ?? Lou Microcontrollers - the other white meat |
||||
| WhiteWizzard Guru Joined: 05/04/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2932 |
Lou, Thanks for that. Yep - got Zonker's boards - posted a quick reply on his thread earlier . . .
|
||||
vasi Guru Joined: 23/03/2007 Location: RomaniaPosts: 1697 |
I can say that "Programmer-to-go" is a nice feature on Pickit2 (I tried it once on PIC18F) but, for Pickit3, that may be the first thing to avoid, unless you did a firmware update. Even considering that, I can't advice you to try if you are low on money 
Read here (it was also confirmed by Olimex) the warning. Here it is the Olimex warning - read on FAQ section Hobbit name: Togo Toadfoot of Frogmorton Elvish name: Mablung Miriel Beyound Arduino Lang |
||||
| WhiteWizzard Guru Joined: 05/04/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2932 |
vasi, It is good to point out this warning to save people the potential of causing themselves some issues. However, the warning is there to advise that you only press the PTG button on a PicKit3 + PIC32 combination AFTER you have loaded a PTG image into the PicKit3. Some people have 'bricked' their PIC32 when pressing it WITHOUT loading an image. I guess its the usual thing, if you are fully aware of what you are doing, and use the equipment within the guidelines AFTER reading the recommendations, then you wont (or rather shouldn't) have any issues. I guesstimate I have used the PTG button well over 300 times with PIC32's using a GENUINE PicKit3 and not once ended up with a bricked PIC. As an additional precaution, I always ensure a resistor is placed inline between the MCLR pin on the PIC, and Pin1(Vpp) on the PicKit3 (as well as using a 10K between MCLR and +v (standard practice)). At the end of the day there are two choices that could be made by someone: 1> See a button, wonder what it does, so press it to find out. or 2> See a button, wonder what it does, so investigates it first BEFORE deciding whether or not to press the button. Even though we all like to be adventurous at times (and chose option 1 above), there are clearly times when Option 2 is the wise mans choice! |
||||
BobD Guru Joined: 07/12/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 935 |
As someone who has a Pickit3 (genuwine) coming in the mail somewhere and who could be considered to be a n00b in this area, I have found this to be a very useful discussion. I thank you all for this enlightenment. I may not have run into trouble as I am big in the RTFM department but it is useful to learn from others. |
||||
| ion507 Newbie  Joined: 05/12/2014 Location: AustraliaPosts: 14 |
Thanks for your procedure Lou. During powering up and down on my latest microMite project I came to grief with 2, 28 pin chips. I see in a post by The White Wizard, that it's not a good idea to have LED matrix displays powered from your microMite when reprogramming with a USB to Serial converter, but I didn't know then. I can't recall what error I saw with #1, I think it just wasn't recognised anymore, but #2 came up with something like "program too large" or "insufficient memory" when I tried to reload a program after minor changes in the edit window of MMEdit. As I am now the proud owner of a clone PICKit3 from Banggood this didn't worry me too much. I put a third chip on the board, loaded the program and eventually got three 8x8 LED matricies with MAX 7219 drivers working. I have never been able to get the PICKit3 to work on my Vista laptop (half a day wasted trying after I received the PICKit) but it has run OK on my Windows7 desktop. This time I went through my usual procedure: physically connect the chip to PICKit3 connect PICKit3 to computer via usb start MPLAB IPE v2.30 SETTINGS - ADVANCED MODE - POWER - "Power target circuit from tool" Ensure correct device type Press "CONNECT" Select Hex program for download Press "PROGRAM" There was an error, something like "target voltage not found". this error came up for both of the faulty chips. I thought I would try loading to a known good chip. This worked without any problems. I then tried #1 again and it worked OK but #2 still had the same error come up. That was 2 days ago. I just tried again with Lou's sequence and all is good, thanks again for providing the info. My first attempt to write some data to the 8x8 matrix display lacks elegance. I will have a play with Halldave's code in his 5x7 Characterset post. I am not familiar with the use of "data" to save the character codes. His code seems to save the data sent as successive rows where my display worked with columns of data fed to it. |
||||
| WhiteWizzard Guru Joined: 05/04/2013 Location: United KingdomPosts: 2932 |
Have a go yourself, but if you get stuck then explain your issue and the folks here will no doubt be able to help you out. I do have some code for writing to five 8x8 led matrix but it is not that elegant (the only reason I haven't released it). Best of luck - and do let us know how you get on! WW |
||||
 Print this page |
 |
The Back Shed's forum code is written, and hosted, in Australia. | © JAQ Software 2025 |
