The Microchip ICD3 is a great low cost USB programmer we recommend for carrying out in circuit firmware programming and upgrades of Microchip microcontrollers. There are other programmers that are also suitable, however this guide is deals with the Microchip ICD3. 1. Purchase a Microchip ICD 3 Debugger / Programmer ( Microchip part number DV164035). 2. Make the necessary cable to connect to the programming header on the PCB. 3. Download MPLAB X from the Microchip Web Site (its free). 4. Now run MPLAB IPE from the ' MPLA DE' programs folder. 5. Select the ' Family' of the microcontroller (usually the first few letters of its part number, e.g. PIC18 or PIC32 ) 6. Now select the ' Device using its whole part number. 7. For ' Tool' select the ' ICD 3' (if it is not shown see the notes section below) 8. Press ' Apply' 9. Press ' Connect'. The Output window will show the results, which may involve the software updating the programmer for a couple of minutes. Don't worry if you get a ' Target device was not found' error, this will occur unless your target PCB is connected to the programmer and powered up. 10. Now press the ' Source' Browse button: Select the.hex file to program the device with. 11. You are now all set to program the microcontroller on your boards. Connect the programmer to the PCB programming connector. If the connector is a simple pin header pin 1 will be marked with an arrow on the PCB and pin 1 of your programming cable connector should also be marked in some way. Press the ' Program' button. The ICD 3 output window at the bottom of the screen will tell you if the programming operation was successful or not. Repeat this for each PCB to be programmed. Notes This guide isn't extensive and Microchip may have altered their software since it was written. If you run into problems please contact us. If you can't connect to the ICD 3 programmer (e.g. it isn't.
Manually Install Drivers for Real ICE or ICD 3 If the driver for the REAL ICE, ICD2 or ICD3 is not automatically installed, follow these steps to install them manually. The process is similar for Windows XP and Windows Vista, but the steps shown below were performed on a Windows 7 system. From the Windows Menu, select Control Panel. Then click on Hardware and Sound. Under Devices and Printers click on Device Manager In the device manager, under Other Devices you should see MPLAB( R) REAL ICE tm listed (or ICD2 or ICD3). Other items you might see in this category are not related to a Microchip tool. Right click on the Microchip tool and select Update Driver Software. Select Browse my computer for driver software: Locate and install driver software manually Click the Browse button and navigate to the appropriate driver directory for your operating system. For 32-bit Windows: C:\ Program Files\ Microchip\ MPLA DE\ Switcherbit\winusb For 64-bit Windows: C:\ Program Files (x86)\ Microchip\ MPLA DE\ Switcherbit\winusb For 64-bit systems, you might notice that under the winusb directory is a directory labelled amd64. This is the standard category name used for all 64-bit drivers, even if your processor is Intel based. Click on Install this software anyway. Microchip has not registered the hardware tools with Microsoft, so this message is unavoidable. The driver should begin installing When the driver installation has finished, click on the Close button. Back in the Device Manager, you should see a new category called Microchip Tools with Microchip Win USB Device listed under it. The driver will show the same name for the REAL ICE and the ICDs. In Windows 7, this driver will now be automatically loaded for any Microchip Win USB device, regardless of which USB port it is connected to.
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