Installing PCM can make PCH fail.

[PCM programmer]

I have PCM and PCH installed in the same directory:
c:\Program Files\Picc

Sometimes, I temporarily install a different version of PCM
in order to test problems that are reported on this board.
When I'm done, I re-install PCM vs. 3.188.

I've noticed that when I do this, PCH no longer works properly.
Just now, I started programming a few production boards and
they programmed and verified OK, but the boards gave me an
error message on the LCD -- for two units in a row. So I got
suspicious and re-installed PCH and re-programmed the units.
That fixed the problem. This has happened with PCH 3.178
and 3.188.

I think that PCM works OK if PCH is installed after PCM. It's just
if you install PCM last, then it damages PCH.

In the past when this happened, I got an error message when
I tried to compile with PCH. (I forget what the message was).
This newer problem is more disturbing, because I didn't notice
it until I tested the boards. So I put a note in the program to
re-install PCH and re-compile before programming any units.
I'm using ICD2 as the programmer.

Maybe the solution is to put the two compilers in different directories.
Is that how PCWH does it ?

[rnielsen]

I have PCWH and it stuffs everything into the same directory.

Ronald

[kypec]

Hi,

I'm using PCWH and I got used to install every new release of it
in a different directory, like \PICC3188\ \PICC3190\ etc.

That way I can work with any compiler revision whenever I want to
without needing to re-install every time I worked on some project
with this PICC rev or that PICC rev

kypec

[PCM programmer]

That sounds like a good idea. I'll keep my production versions
safe and unchanged in my main directory, and put the temporary
test versions in another directory.

[Darren Rook]

I think one problem is devices.dat. PCM and PCH share the same devices.dat file. The problem is that the format of this file may change with different releases. So if you have two different versions installed in the same directory, devices.dat may be the right one for one version but won't work for another.

[rnielsen]

I like the idea of installing each version in it's own directory. Do you have multiple icons set up so you can load each one up? From what I understand, CCS puts an icon on the desktop that points to the last install.

Ronald

[Douglas Richard]

I have PCM and PCH installed in different directories. Seems to work fine.

[Humberto]

Hi folks,

Regarding versions, I´m still using version 3.184 as stable and reliable.
I would like to know which version are using for your real work.


Humberto

[kypec]