Can't get programmer to communicate with catgenie, can you help?

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. Get PicKit 2, and the correct kind of cable
2. Plug in the PicKit 2 to your CatGenie and computer as per instructions
3. PicKit 2 software says "No device detected" and refuses to do anything

I have a fairly recent CatGenie, got it a couple of months ago. The catgenie 
has the PIC16F1939 microcontroller, I made the cable as per your instructions 
(triple-checked) and got a brand new pickit 2.

I can't get an old enough version of PicKit 2 software (the page mentioned 
v2.11), so I've tried with v2.61 and v1.00 which were the next higher and next 
lower of the versions available from microchip homepage.

When I plug in the PicKit 2 (connected to catgenie) to the computer, it looks 
like the catgenie resets, goes through the led lights and beeps a bit for a 
while. So obviously something is working with the connection.

When trying software v1.00, it just says "Insert device" and I can't really get 
it to do anything.

With software v2.61 it keeps saying "No device detected", but I can e.g. set 
programmer -> hold device in reset, and that works.

In the menus I can also select midrange / 1.8V min device family, and 
Programmer -> manual device select, which lets me pick the exact correct 
microcontroller, but doing so seems to change nothing.

At some point the software also detected that the device is powered, but I 
can't remember or figure out again how that happened.

Do you have any ideas on what I could try next? Should I try and get the PicKit 
3 instead?

Original issue reported on code.google.com by janne.en...@lietu.net on 29 Mar 2014 at 4:10

I have the PicKit 3 and am experiencing similar issues.

My CatGenie is also new with the PIC16F1939 microcontroller. I modified the 
cable as per instructions and re-checked it a dozen times.

I've tried programming the box with the unit plugged into the wall, with the 
PicKit 3 supplying power, and both plugged in and PicKit powered.

If I supply < 5v to the board, I get the message "Address: 0 Expected Value: 
3180 Received Value: 0". If I supply 5v, I simply get "Failed to program 
device".

I've attached photos showing the overall setup, the connection to the 
microcontroller, and a few screenshots from MPLab 2.15

Any assistance greatly appreciated!

Original comment by ic3b...@gmail.com on 1 Sep 2014 at 8:10

Attachments:

jgagnon5541 / catgenius

Can't get programmer to communicate with catgenie, can you help? #4