On Fri, 19 Aug 2005, Jinx wrote:

> As for the F88 specifically, I've had them in and out of a PIC
> Start Plus and reprogrammed them with ICSP numerous times
> in long sessions and never had your problem. If it's a particular
> one that's doing it, maybe put it aside and use another. If the
> same thing happens again then perhaps you're on to something.
> Not nececelery with the F88 but possibly with your programmer,
> power supply or board
>
> On rare occassions a PIC's gone into a socket backwards, once
> even with 12V on it when I used the wrong PSU, but I've found
> that doesn't always do them in. Often they appear to be fine. My
> experience is that usually they die unexpectedly during development
> for some unknown reason. Could be static, could be a funny glitch
> goes through them. It always seems to be something unrepeatable
> in my case. Fortunately I'm generally kind to my PICs and they
> don't turn up their pins that often

One useful trick is to supply just enough power for the circuit to work. 
For exampl if you use a parallel regulator then this is almost always 
ensured. If you put something in backwards it will only pass the maximum 
shunt current which should not cause damage.

Peter
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