> :-) you surely know that a pic need an high voltage on Vpp to read out data...
>  if is applied on the wrong pin... kabooom! :-) On eeproms, Vpp
>  is also applied on A9 to read out the electronic signature.... if
>  A9 is not where it's supposed to be (maybe because the chip
>  is one pin shifted)... :-(

My programmer uses a 2mA/100mA switchable current-limitted supply: the PC
turns the supply on for 2mA, makes sure the chip works, then (if applicable)
switches the supply for 100mA.  As far as I can tell, applying even 13.5v
(current-limitted to 2mA) for a half-second or so won't do any damage.