Programming with ICD2

Mary · Joined: 02 Dec 2003 Posts: 3

HI All
I am trying to use ICD2 as a programmer (and not a debugger) with PIC16F877. I have chosen the programmer option in MPLab IDE v6.40 and it seems like I can connect and program just fine. However, when I turn on the programmed device, the program doesn't seem to be running at all. Any idea what I am doing wrong? I should mention that everything was working fine when I was debugging with ICD2.

Thanks

PCM programmer · Joined: 06 Sep 2003 Posts: 21708

Things you need to do:

1. Go the the Project / Build Options menu, and make sure
that the box for "Compile for use with ICD debugger"
is un-checked. In the Build Options menu, there may
two dialogs available - one for "Project" and the other
for your main file. Each one of these will have a "Compile
for use with ICD debugger". The dialog for "Project"
will not be immediately visible when you click on it.
You first have to click on the "CCS compiler tab" at
the top of the dialog. I really don't know why they
have this setting in two places. I just know that
whenever I make a standalone program, I un-check
both those boxes, just to be absolutely sure. Maybe
at some future date, I'll learn why they have it in
two places.

2. Re-compile the program AFTER you do item #1 above.

3. Go to the Programmer menu and click on Connect.
Then click on Program. It should give a lot of progress
reports in the output window. There should be no text
in Red, which would indicate an error.

4. Turn off the power to your board.

5. Unplug the ICD2 connector from your board.

6. Turn on the power to your board. It should work.

SteveS · Joined: 27 Oct 2003 Posts: 126

To add a bit:

If you keep the ICD2 plugged into the target, you need to set up the debugger (Debugger - Select Tool - MPLAB ICD 2) to be able to run the target (RUN button) - even if you aren't going to be debugging.

If the ICD2 is unplugged, then, as stated by PCM Programmer, it should run on power up. Be sure reset (VPP) is going high - The ICD2 takes care of that when it's plugged in, so maybe you have a circuit error.

In general, if I have a dead board I look at:

- do I have power and at the right voltage (it does happen!)
- is the chip hot?! (plugged in backwards, circuit error)
- is the oscillator running?
- is reset correct?
- can it do some simple thing? (toggling an I/O line, etc)

Good luck,

SteveS