WinPicProg Forums

morganmi · Joined: 24 Nov 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Dallas, Texas

Hello. I'm so frustrated and could really use some help, please. I built the OziPic programmer but am having a devil of a time getting the PC to recognize the port. Using XP and WinPicProg latest but port can't seem to be found by the software. Voltages on OziPic look good, VDD, VPP and Vpp40 LEDs are lit when connected to LPT1 (no PIC in the ZIF), downloaded and installed the Port95nt.exe (does WinPicProg need to be in the same directory as the DLPortIO stuff?). Tried setting the PC LPT1 port to different addresses (0x378 and 0x3BC) and tried changing the WinPicProg custom settings to same but still Port: None. Settings same as spec'd by Ozi VDD D2 Norm, VPP D3 Invert, VPP40 D4 Invert, Dout D0 Invert, CLK D1 Invert, Din Ack Invert but not sure what to set the On/Off switches to on the hardware settings window. Just seem to be too many variables right now! I'm thinking about loading Win 2000 back on my PC instead of XP if that could be the problem. Should I set the LPT port to EPP, ECP, Standard or Bi? Any help/pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much - Mike in Dallas
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Mike Morgan Dallas Texas

Nigel Goodwin · Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 2:45 pm Post subject:

I've never found that altering the port type (EPP etc.) makes any difference, so that shouldn't matter. You should run the Port95nt.exe program before installing WinPicProg, it doesn't matter where it goes, it's installed as a Windows DLL.

Using the hardware page, set the port to the correct address, and set the port pins to the correct ones - then manually toggle the buttons and test the voltages on the programmer.

morganmi · Joined: 24 Nov 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Dallas, Texas

Thanks Nigel. I tried that as I found another post with a similar problem with Ozipic but he got his to work. I've tried it on 3 different XP computers and all have the same problem. I installed the Port95NT as you suggested and still nothing, even when I toggle the switches on and off. I think I am doing something really stupid but I'm too stupid to know what it is! I have been trying to revert back to 2000 (not me, just the PC) to see if that does anything. Also trying to find some port tools off the web. Right now the three LEDs are on but nothing happens when I toggle the switches. I keep thinking it's XP as the board checks out when I pull the various lines high or low using a probe. I haven't ried the cable so I'll ring that out next. Any other thoughts? Thanks again - Mike
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Mike Morgan Dallas Texas

morganmi · Joined: 24 Nov 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Dallas, Texas

Just wanted to let everyone know what mistake I had made when I built the OziPic board. I put a female DB25 PCB mount connector instead of the male that was called out on the BOM. I've been out of this for a while and didn't realize the impact, since the types of cables fan out differently if it's male on both ends of male to female like I should have used. Since I've changed out the female DB25 to male I now can 'talk' to the board thru the LPT port with WinPicProg by putting in the correct address on the Hardware page and toggling the on/off setings for VDD, VPP and VPP40.

I still have a problem though and wanted to ask just another question to clear something up for me. Now that the WinPicProg will put out changes of state to the boards VDD/VPP/VPP40 and LEDs turn on and off, why am I still not seeing anything show up in the address field in the WinPicProg main window. Address still reads 'None' and I cannot 'write' anything to the Pic. Is there something on the board that tells the program that it can write to the pic and is there a way I can check this to troubleshoot my problem. I tried yesterday on a Win 2000 machine and I get the same problem; toggles LEDs OK but still no recognized address and 'write' is greyed-out on the WinPicProg.

Sorry to be so wordy on this post. I'm getting closer and very excited about entering in to Pic programming using the WinPicProg and Nigel's excellent tutorials. Regards from Dallas - Mike
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Mike Morgan Dallas Texas

Nigel Goodwin · Posted: Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:09 pm Post subject:

For the auto-detect to work, the programmer must be powered up, and the pins set correctly. All it does to detect is turn on Vdd, then toggle the data output line, and check for a corresponding change on the data input line.

morganmi · Joined: 24 Nov 2006 Posts: 4 Location: Dallas, Texas

OK, thanks again Nigel. Should be able to figure it out now. Regards
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Mike Morgan Dallas Texas