At 8:32 AM 5/23/96, John Payson wrote:
>> > Yah, I did the same thing a couple of nights ago, I use a ZIF socket for
>> > prototyping and put the 'C84 in backwards.  Something was smoking, the
>>power
>> > supply's fuse went, but after putting in a fresh fuse, opening a window, I
>> > tried the PIC again and no problems (including reprogramming it)!
>> >
>> Yeah, I'm ashamed to admit that I have done the same with the windowed
>> 16C71 part. Ithought I could see a red glow through the window! But when it
>> cooled down and was inserted the right way, it still worked.
>> It's nice to work with a device that's at least partially idiot-proof.
>
>Yeah, them PICs are really something.  The only ways I've managed to destroy
>'em are either:
>
>[1] mechanical wear on the legs cripples them
>
>[2] too much voltage on a port pin, with current to back it up [e.g. rect-
>    ified raw power line--170v DC!]  Note: even this didn't blow up the whole
>    chip--just the affected port pins.  Unfortunately, blowing up PB7 leaves
>    the chip's code in a somewhat permanent state (the code that was in there
>    still ran, but there was no way to change it)

Sounds like a good way to really code protect your devices! Just blow away
PB6 and PB7 on the newer (ISP) devices! ;)

eric