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[odin22]

I checked the print on the crystal and it says "20.0C79" which I am fairly confident means that it should be running at 20Mhz. Printed next to the crystal on the board is "2X". Not sure what to make of that. The only crystal running at 4.43Mhz is the one next to the PGM Reset button and the SD slot. Next to it is printed "1X" on the board.

But if what you are saying is true about the PIC being in charge of the frequency at which the oscillator runs, it looks like I'm {bleep} outta luck.

Regarding the various baud rates, I have now tried everything between 2400 and 115200. All of them return various results in the HyperTerminal window. Some write out multiple lines of one or two characters. Others just write out a few characters. None of it legible text, though. It is all just strings of garbage. No boot text from Dennis.
I have tried both with and without an inserted SD card with a minimig1.bin file on it.

I am sending it off to Finland tomorrow to let Andeda have a look at it. If he finds the same issues as me, we can be pretty sure I just have a faulty board, and when it returns I will send it back to ACube to fix within warranty.

[Anding]

Odin22,

Given what you've already tried, if I was in your shoes I might be tempted to send it directly to ACube under warranty now and save time?

Good luck anyway,

[MiniMorph]

You could program it with an IC Socket, Five wires and a little berg header.

I can post you those bits.

As others say getting a PIC programmer for this issue is overkill.

I could send you a PICStart2 that is gathering dust round here. I am in the UK however, somebody in your own country can help I guess.

I have been developing using PICs for well over 10 years by the way !

[odin22]

Just a slightly delayed update:

As mentioned, I sent off the board and PIC to Andeda who has been looking into it and (somewhat luckily) he found that it was not me who was going insane: The board is indeed broken. The problem exists somewhere between the RS232 interface and the PIC socket, and because of that he experienced the exact same problems I have been jammering on about. So there. Mystery solved.

Andeda has been kind enough to update the PIC via an external programmer (thanks! - oh, and also thanks to MiniMorph above for offering to send me some bits and pieces for a rudimentary DIY kit, but it looks like I won't be needing it). When the board comes back, I will contact ACube and have it shipped off to them for a fix or exchange.

Thanks to everyone in the thread for their tireless efforts.

[Norway]

i have just gotten myself a pic programmer, but what file do i put into my ic. i downloaded tiny bootloader, but there were so many files. as you read im not mutch into this. but i think its fun :-) :-) anyone ..?

[Andeda]

Hi there

try this: tinybld_18F252_20MHz.HEX

Norway wrote:
i have just gotten myself a pic programmer, but what file do i put into my ic. i downloaded tiny bootloader, but there were so many files. as you read im not mutch into this. but i think its fun :-) :-) anyone ..?