Matrix user forums

HI,
I got the Dev Board 2 and used it in the past, but hadn't used it for about the last 6 months.
I recently put in tried it with the PIC that comes with it, and with an 18F2550, but I keep getting the same error
message from PPP that the board is not powered or the parallel cable is not connected.
I am using a parallel cable, and when I plug it into the board, the reset led glows a low RED.
I am also using the PSU supplied with the board, and the reset LED stays the same.
Is there anything I can check or a sequence of steps I can follow to help me identify the cause of the problem?

Hello

You could try downloading the latest PPP but that would not explain why it was working before and not now. Is the PSU configured to supply the correct voltage. It should be set to 12V or higher. In PPP you should be able to goto Options -> Options and perform an auto detect of your board.

The PSU is a 12V. When I use the Auto Detect, I get "LPT cable is not connected or board has no power, continue?". And then "Could not ID the oinboard Chip".
I am using PPP ver 3.8.11.24
the attached image is of what I see when I plug the board in.

Have you changed the software on your PC. eg have you installed PPP recently. The latest version of PPP is V3.9 but for both V3.8 and V3.9 the LPT driver is not installed as standard. Therefore if you try installing the latest PPP from here and then make sure that the LPT driver is selected during the install process then this may fix the problem.

http://www.matrixmultimedia.com/softwar ... _12_26.zip

Is there a program running on the chip at the moment? This will give a good idea of whether your board has been damaged. It is also probably a good idea to try a different PICmicro device on the board just incase the PICmicro you are currently using has become damaged.

The current PIC is a brand new one, PIC18F2550.
The old one and the new one give the same symptoms.
I'll try reinstalling the PPP and see how that goes.

Ok

Let me know how you get on.

The PSU was faulty, so got a new one, but now am getting a different message:
When it goes to erase the PIC, it seems to retry 10 times and then fails.
The autodetect gives the error of "PICmicronot found from ID 0x0040. Please Enter the chip name"
And if I try to load a program to the chip I get this:
"Programmin failed: <0> <1> <2> <3> <4> <5> <6> <7> <8> <9> <10> <11> <12> <13>" and an OK button.

Is my board a gonner?

Hello

There is not too much on the board that can go wrong regarding the programming as most of the work is done by your parrallel port.

Is your new PSU 12V or over. If not then the PICmicro will not be able to enter the programming mode.

Also try moving the oscillator switch over to RC before you start programming. This sometimes helps with misbehaiving PICmicros.

Do you have a replacement PICmicro that you could try on the board. It is possible that your current PICmicro has become damaged or code protected and that is why you are unable to program it. Out of interest what was wrong with your PSU.

My new PSU can go from 15V up to 24V.
The PIC I have in the board now is a brand new one, I took out the other new one last night, still getting the same thing.
If the Parallel port is the important part, what settings should I be looking at in windows/BIOS to make sure the port is
set up correctly? (as I am using a laptop for this)

Hello

I think I may have spotted the problem. Laptops are getting lower and lower power. For this reason the laptops that still have the old parrallel port are not driving the port to specification. This may be why you are having problems communicating with your board. Do you have a desktop PC which you could test your board with.

There are a few settings in my device manager for the LPT port, It is set to never use an interrupt and to enable legacy plug and play detection.

I think you may be right about the parallel port, as I know when ever I used this on my PC it worked straight away.
I will test it on my PC and see.

Well it was the parallel port.
It works fine on my PC.
Guess I'll have to use the PC form now on.

Would one of these with external power be of any help

http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-103/

Hello Keith

Im not sure about the board you showed as I have never used those devices before.

However devices such as this

http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~heha/ba ... ex.html.en

Are not compatible with PICmicro LPT programmers as they run from the 5V USB power supply and cannot provide the voltage to program the PICmicro.

With the http://www.pmdx.com/PMDX-103/ you can supply an external 12V

Yes it looks great and like it would do the job.
Cant guarentee it will work though.
Also dont like the centronics only style connection.

Guess the best thing to do would be to buy it and test it.