Rolf wrote:
> Here's one that will make you guffaw a little.
>
> I have just started programming a PIC, fresh project, etc. I set up new 
> MPLab 8.01. I copy and past a bunch of C18 code from another project I 
> did hoping to avoid issues with initialization. The previous project 
> meticulously goes through every peripheral and 
> enables/disables/configures it as required (I am using the same PIC as 
> that project). I thought if I copied that code it would ensure that I 
> got all the initialization right. I also copied some routines for 
> reading/writing the EEPROM.
>
> Well, I took an hour and went through the code to cut out all the cruft 
> I did not need, and was pretty certain that I had everything set up how 
> I wanted it (timers, ADCon, Interrupt Priorities, etc.). I decided that 
> I would add a blinking light to indicate the status of the program 
> during setup.... just to get things going.
>
> Well, first the LED would not blink, and I realized the initialization 
> routine was setting the TRIS to input. So, I set it to output, and the 
> LED started blinking, but it was blinking faster than I wanted... so I 
> slowed down the delay loop. Still blinking just as fast.
>
> Bugger, something was funny. I looked through the code, found no obvious 
> problems. Figured the WDT or some other reset was happening. Built code 
> to read the reset RCON status and interpret it. But, it was normal. Set 
> ICD2 to debug, and read RCON, and every reset was either POR or MCLR 
> Reset as expected from ICD2 debug.
>
> Finally, in frustration, I put a meter over the LED and discovered that 
> even though the output pin was constantly high, the LED was still 
> flashing.....
>
> Hmmm... I had pulled a 'flasher' LED from my junk box. Replaced it with 
> a standard LED, and wrote a mail to Piclist so that you can all laugh at 
> me.... ;-)
>
> 2 hours of debug, and now a flasher-LED that has been clearly marked 
> with a Sharpie...
>
> Rolf
>   
It happens to us all, Rolf. Nobody is laughing hard, and certainly not 
at you.

--Bob
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