PK3Err0038 Failed to initialize PICkit 3

Added on 3/8/10

May be the finale. Although I have been very sick this past week, I have put some time into my new pickit3.
At first it didn't work. But not like the old one. The new one was just intermittent. Sometimes it would work, sometimes not, and still not after a reconnection. Now I started working on it again as this one looked promising.

Down to the simple details. I booted into Safe Mode (winXP sp3) and ran mplab with the pickit3 connected. It worked and updated it's firmware. Back in normal boot, it still was intermittent but now I knew there was a conflict. After hours of working on drivers and services to avail, I found a running program: "Device Detector 3" for my Olympus sound recorder. After disabling that, the pickit3 seems to work just fine. I have since rebooted many times and changed chips through my 16f690, 16f886 and 18f45k20 (all demo boards). It's still working days later. I did have one hang on "connecting" which was solved by unplugging the pickit3 and plugging it back in as was suggested in another thread.

The problem was cause by Device Detector 3 which monitors all usb ports to see if you plug in and Olympus recorder. Obvious problem and yet so sneaky...

In case you were wondering, yes I did all of that and much more with the original pickit3...

At this point I think I can say that the pickit3 does in fact work, unless you get a defective one [:@]

All my thanks to Howard for working with me and supplying a new pickit3!

This may finally be the end of the saga
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Added on 2/26/10

Howard (Microchip support) has been in contact through e-mail and has proposed a good solution. Hopefully within a few days we'll see how it all worked out. Thank you Howard.

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Added on 02/23/10
There has been no resolution to this problem and microchipdirect has been good enough to push this long past the one month return time. As a matter of fact, microchipdirect has not responded at all to repeated requests to return this defective product. Do not buy a pickit3 and definitely not from microchipdirect! If you have to buy a pickit3, get one from a reputab le dealer that will handle a return.
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I have been trying to use my brand new pickit3 debug express for a few days now with absolutely no luck and hope to possibly get some ideas here while I'm still waiting for Microchip to process my support ticket...

My basic problem is that I can't get the pickit3 to work correctly and identified by mplab.
When I select the pickit3 from the programmer menu, I first get:

No PICkit 3 Connected

If I try the reconnect, I get:

PICkit 3 detected
Connecting to PICkit 3...
PK3Err0038: Failed to initialize PICkit 3.

Failed to properly connect to PICkit 3

Generally the status light is off. It is sometimes red. It does blink yellow (I think) when I first plug it in. It goes off as soon as I get the beep from XP telling me that I have plugged in a USB device.

I have read all the posts that deal with similar problems. I have tried two computers, with and without powered USB hubs. I've tried selecting different programmers, different USB ports, uninstalling the HID devices, etc. Everything I could find in this forum and other places on the net. Nothing worked...

At first I thought the pickit3 was only partially programmed after I first tried using it and mplab hung on 'connecting' for about an hour. After a shutdown and restart, the above started happening. I can only say that yes, I think it worked when I first plugged it in? After hundreds of attempts at getitng it to work again produced two successes. On the first, it was recognised, firmware updated and all looked good. I plugged in my LPC demo board and read the program out of the 16f690 chip. All worked well until I compiled a new program (demo) and found no programmer. Back to the above... A new powered USB hub and reboot and it worked once again for about a minute. Unfortunately, I had somehow chosen a demo project for the 18f chip and it hung on the 'connecting' again. I have yet to get it to work again...

I'm running winXP SP3 primarily on a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop. I've also tried this on my dekstop with an Intel motherboard (with and without powered USB hubs). Mplab 8.43 and associated software just downloaded from Microchip website. All this is brand new and I'd sure like to see it work beyond the minute of seeing those led's blink on the demo board...

I'm left now with what might be a working pickit3 device? But it won't work for me.

At this point I'm not a very happy camper. I routinely use a dozen or more USB devices with no problems. This is the only device I've ever run into that just won't work. I read some posts from maybe Howard? that got a few people working. If there's some magic trick involved here I'd sure like to know it...

I'd be more than happy to supply any further info as I'm notorious for leaving out what is really needed...

If I can't get any answers, then I suppose I'll have to look into a return. In the meanwhile, I've already ordered a pickit2 in the hopes that it will work. I have some projects and a box full of boards and chips bought direct from MicrochipDirect with the pickit3 that are waiting for work...

Thanks for any help offered.

Rich...

Try another USB cable - the bundled ones were reported to be a crap.

Thanks!

Sorry I didn't mention that... I did try several cables with and without powered USB hubs. The nice shielded one that I use constantly on my USB hub, plugged into the pickit3 directly. The cable that I use for my phone and another one I have laying around. None helped. And right now I'm using the pickit3 cable on the pickit2 box just to see if it worked. Works fine...

Rich...

I've read some posts that suggest reprogramming. But...

First off, I really wouldn't know how...

Second, it's is brand new and I'd like it to just work as the pickit2 does.

Third, I don't think it needs a reprogramming. If it did, it shouldn't work at all and yet it does. Maybe one out of 100 tries but it still does. If it needed re-programming, would that be possible?

I've also read that the official bootloader is not available which is what would need to be programmed as far as I know. But overall, I'm more than willing to try say an odd USB driver or other simple fix. If Microchip support suggests reprogramming it than I would even be willing to try that. Being brand new, I don't think I want to take it apart without official instructions or I may not be able to return it.

I give it a few more days since the weekend is coming up. Hopefully support will come through with something. If not, it goes back. In the meantime, I have a huge amount of reading to do (pics are new to me) and I haven't done assembly since the Motorola 6502 was the new hot chip... It should all be fun...

hello, i have exactly the same problem how *BearlyRich*.....

Updated on 02/09/10->

I have finally heard from Microchip support! Of all things, my first support ticket got lost in cyberspace somewhere. How would I know that a pending ticket is visible from the support screen? Only after I filled out a second ticket, which was answered within hours! Okay, so now I see that Micropchip support is there and does respond quite quickly. Thank you!

On the down side... I took the 5 minutes to reprogram my pickit3. No change at all. The thing still does not work exactly as it did before. I didn't think it was a programming issue but wanted to try it.

Now, the return route. I am direct to my local sale office (for MicrochipDirect) which leads to an e-mail address to request the return. Well, I sent them an e-mail on 02/04/10 and have yet to hear from them... I suppose a phone call is in order now...

So, support does exist and is very nice and very helpful. The "solution" did not work and I am now pursuing the return. We'll see...

-> end update



Still absolutely NO word from Microchip [:@]

I was going to start a new thread but then realised that it would just wind up as a rant. So I'm adding a trailer here as an update for others who may be thinking  of buying a pickit3...

Been weeks. I first opened a support ticket on the microchip web site. Still no response.
Then came here. Had some nice responses from kind users, but still no response from microchip even though several of their dev people have recently posted in the forums... I also e-mailed directly to devtools@microchip.com. No response...

I then started e-mailing microchip. Customer suppoort, sales... At this point all I wanted was to return the pickit3 and get my money back. Absolutely no response from microchip.... Does microchip just refuse to acknowledge that there is a big problem with the pickit3? Why not just give me my refund and let me go away partly happy?

This whole thing started out pretty well. I did weeks of research and decided to go with microchip products. According to their web site, the pickit2 was old and I should buy the new pickit3. Okay. Bought that along with many chips and demo boards. Prices not bad and shipping very fast. After that, it all falls apart. What good are cheap prices and fast shipping if none of it works??? Thank goodness I bought the pickit2 as soon as I realized there would be no support at all for the pickit 3. At least I can use all those things I bought.

Okay, so this turned into a rant. Sorry. But 70+ wasted dollars (pickit3 debug express) and many lost hours all for nothing will do that to me...

Microchip, I want my refund!

Thanks xiaofan. I have called them, e-mailed them and been communicating through the web support ticket. All with no results at all. The phone people have no cluse at all on how to handle a return. She told me to get the info from the web support person. He tells me to follow the instructions in the microchipdirect FAQ, which simply says use the helpbuy e-mail address or phone number. I have sent e-mails to every address I can find including the form to fill out from my web order screen requesting a return. No response from any of them. And now I'm past the 30 day return window.....

After all of this, I think I made two major mistakes. First in going with microchip products... Second, dealing with microchipdirect. I should have purchased from a reputable dealer who knows how to deal with customers and returns of defective products. Now that I have a large stock of microchip products to deal with, I'm probably stuck using them as I don't want to invest that kind of money again in another company's chips & such. But I will never buy from microchipdirect again and certainly won't suggest anyone else do the same...

Yes, I'm a little disgruntled. The $80+ for the pickit3 debug express may not be much to many people here but it means a whole lot to me, plus weeks of aggrevation in trying to get the stupid thing to work and the added expense of having to buy the pickit2 just so I could use my chips and demo boards...

So, sorry for a bit of a rant but microchipdirect deserves it...

Howard,

Thank you! I just sent off an e-mail to that address. I hope you get this one as I did send one there on 1/29/10 about this problem. If not, please let me know.

Rich...

Great to knwo you make it alive... Now I have two brick with 3 lights on need to get it alive..
 
Not really clear on how you did it. Is it as simple as running the MPLAB and press and hold the button and wait?? Do I need to click any selection from the MPLAB?
 
any idea if 8.46 will work?
 
Thanks
 

ORIGINAL: luizsalomon

I got mine working. Tried consulting the 24x7 microchip support, but I think it means 24 hours of sleep by 7 of lunch = 31 hours of nothing[:@].
Nevertheless, I solved using the following:
I'm using MPLAB 8.40. It didn't work here. I tried the firmware download - manual or auto - but it still didn't work. All three lights where lit.
I tried, using MPLAB 8.40, holding the button, and while holding, plugged in the USB. Still holding, a few seconds after, it begins downloading the firmware from MPLAB 8.40. Result: didn't work either. Tried two different computers: same situation.
Tried on a third computer with MPLAB 8.30 the manual/ auto firmware download, didn't work. Tried holding the button and - voilá!!! Got it back!
Simple, hum???[8|]

I see from my own use of the forum that many may not read the first post and see the update I posted..

For anyone with similar problems or just wondering the outcome of my 'problems' please see the first post in this thread. It may not help everyone, but it can't hurt... If you have a second programmer, also see this:
http://www.microchip.com/forums/fb.aspx?m=481245

to re-program your PicKit3...

By the way, using that button on the PicKit3 did nothing for me and my problems... Talking to Howard DID help solve them!