I'm wondering if anyone else has been having problems getting the PICSTART Plus
programmer to work reliably under WIN95.

I have a Pentium-150 w/32Mb, PICSTART Plus (about 3 months old) and
MPLAB v3.12. Since I first got the programmer, I have been having problems
programming 16C84's reliably. I don't mean to say that the processors are
written with the wrong code in them, it's just that when I use Program/Verify
in MPLAB it often pops up a window saying "Cannot transmit.Please Verify
serial and power connections". And then sometimes by pressing "program" again,
it works, sometimes it needs a reset from the software, sometimes I need to
power it down and up again. However once it starts programming, it ALWAYS
programs the chip correctly.

I have checked the connections many times, and they are fine. I am using the
 serial
cable & power supply provided with the programmer by Microchip. Sometimes I will
program a chip 5 times with no problems, and sometimes I can't even enable the
programmer without a hitch.

Is this common or is it simply faulty hardware?

Alex Thomas
Campbell Scientific Australia
csa@ultra.net.au