I have the same error problem.  The alternate driver from microchip helps a
little, but i usually have to try about 10 times before the programmer is
enabled and i can program the PIC.  Keep trying over and over and see what
happens.

> Alvin Tan wrote:
>  >
>  >         I just got myself a Picstart Plus development programmer.  But
>  > evertime I tried to enable the programmer, I get an error message of "
>  > Please verify Serial and Power Connections and reset the Programmer
>  > [0020,01,00,88].  Am I doing something wrong?  If anyone can help, It
>  > would be greatly appreciated.  BTW, I am running it under Win95, 32MB
>  > RAM, on COM1.
>
>
>  There is an alternate PICSTART Plust driver on the Microchip web page.
>  This usually fixes communication problems like this.
>
>  Darrel Johansen
>