Switching to PIC: PCIkit3 wtf? So much errors

[stj]

why are you buying used stuff when it;s only $10 new from china with cables and a zif-socket pcb for off-board programming??

[Ian.M]

Yes, it does seem a little crazy for a novice.   An extremely experienced hobbyist on a tight budget might buy a used one cheap to have a genuine serial number just to avoid hassles getting Microchip support for MPLAB PICkit 3 issues.  Worst case: either Microchip swaps it out or one ends up fixing it (if tht's less hassle than organising the return) so you end up with a spare genuine PICkit 3.   Due to their tendency to occasionally brick themselves, (fortunately rare now) requiring another programmer to reflash the bootloader, and their limited protection against user error, its no bad thing to have a spare.

[NorthGuy]

I have many PICkit3s. Some of them I bought in DigiKey for top dollar. Some of them I won on eBay auctions at very cheap price. They all were new and genuine. I don't see any difference between them. Certainly, I connected them backwards on numerous occasions, made other connection mistakes too. I'd say my usage is rather harsh. But none of them ever failed.

If you want to save money, buy one of the Microchip Curiosity boards. It is cheap and it has a built-in programmer on it. It's not as good as PICkit3, but it's definitely much cheaper.

[NivagSwerdna]

Working on the basis of clutching at straws whilst looking for a needle in a haystack...

Let's say that your Low Pincount demo board has a short... When unplugged from the PicKit3 what is the resistance between pins 1 and 20?  Does it change if the PIC is removed?

(Pin 1 and 20 on device should be the same as between Pin 2 and 3 on P1)