Renard SS24 - Flashed chips not working

[robskimeister]

Hi! I think I may need a little help with my 2 Renard SS24 controllers I bought back in the first group buy. This is my first year doing Christmas lights, so I'm still learning all this stuff.

After I assembled my SS24s, I read that most of the chips arrived un-programmed, so I went ahead & bought an ICP03 pic programmer & followed Wayne's videos to flash the chips. I had never done any chip programming before, but it "seemed" to be pretty straightforward as long as I followed the videos.

I just recently got around to testing the Renards with an E1.31 bridge (DIYLED) & found that the 2 controllers "mostly" don't work. I say "mostly" because the first 8 channels work on the first controller, but the last 16 don't. However, there are 2 channels that stay ON: 9 and 17.

None of the channels on the 2nd controller work, but it's really weird because the same exact 2 channels (9 & 17) also stay ON! In addition, channel #1 stays on.

I flashed the chips a 2nd time but got the same results.

I have a 3rd WORKING SS24 controller that I bought from a DIYC member. I put one of my chips in that controller (U7; the middle slot) to see if my chip was bad. I expected the middle 8 channels not to work but the last 16 didn't work. Weird! I thought each chip controlled 8 channels, so why would swapping the U7 chip cause the last 16 channels to stop working? Do the chips work together?

So I'm wondering what I did wrong. I'm fairly sure that the 2 SS24 boards are OK, and I even reflowed many solder joints just to be sure, and checked for solder bridges, etc. Everything looks good. ...and the fact that a known good controller would NOT work with my chip indicates to me that my chips are bad.

I'm going to attach a picture of the pic programmer that I used with the chip in the programmer. Could someone please tell me if I have the chip in the correct slots, and do I have the polarity correct (notched end facing the lever). Would I get an error if I had the chip flipped the wrong way, or in the wrong slots?

Also, does anyone know the significance of channels 9 and 17 staying powered on, on both controllers? That's got to mean something.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
20150725_210034.jpg

[wirenut1980]

This may be of some help http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com...he_Renard_SS24

[budude]

Channels 9 and 17 (or really PIC#2 channel 1 and PIC#3 channel 1) is indicative of a blank PIC - you did program all 3 PICs correct? They should all have the same code on them.

[robskimeister]

Channels 9 and 17 (or really PIC#2 channel 1 and PIC#3 channel 1) is indicative of a blank PIC - you did program all 3 PICs correct? They should all have the same code on them.

Hmmm... that makes sense. 1, 9 and 17 are the first channels of each "group" of 8. So now I'm wondering what I did wrong when I flashed the chips.

BTW, I just removed the 3 chips from the "good" Renard & tested the 2 "bad" controllers with the chips... and they worked! So that means it's DEFINITELY the chips causing the issue!

Can anyone tell me if I have the chip in the correct slot in the pic I posted above. Also, do I have the notch pointing in the correct direction? I'm preparing to re-flash the chips again, but I'm afraid I'm doing something wrong and don't want to repeat the mistake again.

Also, I'm going to attach the ASM and HEX files that I used. Maybe someone can take a quick look & see if they look correct. I would really appreciate it. Perhaps I'm using the wrong files. ?

I found an older link that referenced firmware on the Renard wiki page here:
http://www.doityourselfchristmas.com...e#DMX_firmware

Can I use this firmware from that wiki page: (Standard firmware for the PIC16F688: renard-20071229.asm)?

Thanks in advance for any help or info.

[robskimeister]

Anybody? Bueller?

I started over with flashing the chips & followed every step EXACTLY, and even re-downloaded the firmware in case something got corrupted the first time. I don't think I missed anything the first time, but wanted to be sure.

I think I have bad chips. 1 out of 6 works... and I think the other 5 are BAD.

When I flashed the chips with the pickit 2 software the write was successful, and the verify was successful. But when I did a "blank check" afterwards, it said the chip was BLANK! So how did it pass verification?

Has anyone encountered this before?

I guess I need to get new chips. Who do I need to get them from? Waynej?

[Wayne J]

You did a "blank check"? That erases them. You only write the firmware and then use them.

[TazChaLet]

I have the same programmer you have chip in right spot and notch does face the lever

[robskimeister]

You did a "blank check"? That erases them. You only write the firmware and then use them.

OK... now I'm really confused.

I did a "blank check" on the 1 chip that's working, and the program said it was NOT blank. So I did NOT re-flash it, and it's still working. I just tested them all a few minutes ago.

I re-flashed the other 5, did a verify... and all was successful. I did NOT do a blank check. They're still not working. I assume they're blank (the first channel in that group of 8 stays on).

I'm out of ideas because I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything correctly.

The only thing I can come up with is bad chips. Why would 1 work, and 5 not... when I performed the exact same steps for all of them?

Gremlins!?

I have the same programmer you have chip in right spot and notch does face the lever

Thanks for that info... Glad to know it wasn't "user error"!

[Wayne J]

Try this.. take the one that is working, and re-flash it and try.

[robskimeister]

Try this.. take the one that is working, and re-flash it and try.

Ok... tried that. Here are the steps I performed on the "good chip:

* Downloaded the Renard operational firmware again from here: http://doityourselfchristmas.com/wik...Board#Firmware
* Used MPASMWIN to generate the hex file
* Plugged in the pickit2 programmer with the chip installed. The blue button on the pickit was in the UP position (UP is for 8-20 pin chips; DOWN is for 28-40 pin chips)
* Opened the pickit2 software; the pickit was detected
* Performed BLANK CHECK - Was NOT blank
* Performed ERASE
* Performed WRITE - Successful
* Performed VERIFY - Successful
* Performed BLANK CHECK - Chip is BLANK
* Tested chip - Now this chip does NOT work (Channel 1 stays on; the other 7 channels don't work)

Hopefully someone has an idea of what may be happening, because I don't.

Do I have a bad pickit?

I've attached 5 screenshots of the steps I mentioned above (limit of 5 per post; will post more after this post). Maybe there's something on the screens that may give a clue as to what's happening.

Thanks again for any help or ideas anyone may have.
MPASM Assembling Hex for Renard SS24.JPGMPASM Assembling Hex for Renard SS24-Success.JPGPickit With Good Chip before doing anything.JPGPickit With Good Chip -Blank Check.JPGPickit With Good Chip - Erased.JPG