Hi,
    I've just hooked one of my 16F874s up to a power supply after a few
months in storage and all it seems to be doing is guzzling power - my
programmer reads back all 3FFF words and the power supply regulator
overheats after a few seconds. If I plug the other 'F874 in, it runs fine -
the programmer can see it, it reads and programs fine and the oscillator
seems to work.

    The only thing I can think of that could cause this is a power surge
when I hooked it up to a different PSU (a beefy 6A switcher), but I
discounted that theory due to the 4700uF capacitor I had on the output -
surely any brief transients would have been eradicated by the capacitor? The
PSU had a dummy load connected to bring the current consumption up to the
minimum load for the SMPS, so I doubt it has gone out of regulation.

    It did work (IIRC) when I put it back in the ESD-safe packaging (a
plastic antistatic tube) and I've been following ESD handling precautions
religiously...

Anyone care to suggest a few things for me to check? The SMPS has been taken
out of service as a result of the failed PIC, so I'm using an unregulated
wall-wart and a 7805 (SGS Thomson) for the time being.

Thanks.
--
Phil.
philpem@bigfoot.com
http://www.philpem.btinternet.co.uk/

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