What ISP programmer for Atmel 328p?

[The Soulman]

I'm not into micro-controllers at all but for a project I'd like to attempt reading the contents of a atmega328p
that is installed in a commercial product.
Because there's a 99% chance the security bits has been set and stopping me for going any further I wouldn't want to invest in a genuine
Atmel programmer.
There are plenty of cheapo's available on ali-express and such but which one to avoid or which to get?
On the board there isn't a ISP header, only solder pads so preferable a interface with 6 pogosticks to avoid soldering.

Thanks
 

[imidis]

I use the one linked below, the interface may not be which you prefer for connection, but for less than 2 bucks it works ok, you will get a warning message that you can ignore.

This is the only one I can speak of. Windows 10 drivers a little finicky, but there is an install tool that works well. http://zadig.akeo.ie/

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1pcs-New-USBASP-USBISP-AVR-Programmer-USB-ISP-USB-ASP-ATMEGA8-ATMEGA128-Support-Win7-64K/32748023995.html?spm=2114.01010208.3.10.iP8VND&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_5_10065_10000073_10068_10000074_10000032_119_10000030_10000026_10000023_10000069_10000068_10060_10062_10056_10055_10000062_10054_10000063_301_10059_10099_10000020_10000013_10103_10102_10000016_10096_10000056_10000059_10052_10053_10107_10050_10106_10051_10000097_10000094_10000053_10000007_10000050_10084_10083_10000100_10080_10000047_10082_10081_10110_10111_10112_10113_10114_10115_10037_10033_10000041_10000044_10078_10079_10077_10000038_10073_10000035_10122_10121-10079_10033_10037_10077,searchweb201603_10,afswitch_3,ppcSwitch_5,single_sort_1_default&btsid=b1ecf780-1834-490d-9d65-77ba31e86e86

[jaromir]

Enter USBASP into ebay and you'll find a lot of piss-poor quality AVR programmers, that will work, somehow, especially if your target is 5V powered.
You can even use 2USD arduino asi ISP programmer https://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ArduinoISP.
I once implemented AVR ISP in PIC16, received a lot of love from AVR fans https://hackaday.io/project/551-pic500-avr-isp-in-pic16

[The Soulman]

Thanks guys.
The target is powered with 3,3 Volt along with other chips so I wouldn't want to have 5 Volt coming from the programmer, but that could be disabled right?
Also will these cheap programmers work with Atmel studio 7?
My OS is windows 7 ultimate 64 bit.
Anybody knows where I could find these "pogo-sticks"?

[The Soulman]

Anybody knows where I could find these "pogo-sticks"?

  found out they're called pogo-pin, 911 results on ali-e..

Also looked at the Arduino ISP programmer, easily sourced and plenty of documentation available so will probably get that.

[westfw]

Most of the cheap AVR programmers are based on the USBASP design by Thomas Fischl (http://www.fischl.de/usbasp/ )
They're all about the same, and there's not a lot that can go wrong.  Look for one that has a jumper that permits firmware upgrades, and includes the 6-pin programming connector that has become standard.  I'm somewhat partial to Baite Electronics ( https://www.aliexpress.com/store/213957 ) because I get the impression that they're an actual manufacturer that knows what they're doing, rather than a random "Etail entrepreneur" selling whatever they can find.

Although at this point, you might be better off buying a cheap Arduino Nano clone and running the "Arduino as ISP" sketch.  That way you get a real USB interface, more accessible source code for the programming SW, more space to improve it, and more flexibility in running alternative firmware. (all for "slightly cheaper"!  But no plug-and-play cable, and you probably need to use avrdude to talk to it...)

[fki82]

I couldn't get the USBASP working under Windows 10 because of Issues with the driver signature.
Does anybody know if there is a working driver available somewhere, that doesn't require to switch off all Windows security measueres?

[The Soulman]

Most of the cheap AVR programmers are based on the USBASP design by Thomas Fischl (http://www.fischl.de/usbasp/ )
They're all about the same, and there's not a lot that can go wrong.  Look for one that has a jumper that permits firmware upgrades, and includes the 6-pin programming connector that has become standard.  I'm somewhat partial to Baite Electronics ( https://www.aliexpress.com/store/213957 ) because I get the impression that they're an actual manufacturer that knows what they're doing, rather than a random "Etail entrepreneur" selling whatever they can find.

Although at this point, you might be better off buying a cheap Arduino Nano clone and running the "Arduino as ISP" sketch.  That way you get a real USB interface, more accessible source code for the programming SW, more space to improve it, and more flexibility in running alternative firmware. (all for "slightly cheaper"!  But no plug-and-play cable, and you probably need to use avrdude to talk to it...)

Thanks for the info, but why use a arduino nano and not the arduino ISP programmer?

https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main.ArduinoISP

[westfw]

why use a arduino nano

Cheaper (I did say "use a cheap nano clone"), more programmable/hackable, and a more compatible/official USB interface (probably faster.)
(It looks like the ArduinoISP is a variation of the USBASP, although based on an ATtinyXX instead of an ATmega8.  So it's using bit-banged USB...)

[bharatcs]

USBasp is a cheap programmer but be careful.When programming the atmega 328p make sure fuse configuration is correct .Otherwise if accidentally reset disable fuse is SET or SPI enable fuse is NOT SET USBasp will not be able to program it any more.
Then you will need a High voltage programmer like AVR Dragon or STk500, Otherwise a cheap alternative is to  use arduino as high voltage programmer
 link: http://www.instructables.com/id/AVR-High-voltage-programming-Fuses-rescue/
avr Fuse calculator: http://eleccelerator.com/fusecalc/fusecalc.php?chip=atmega328p

[imidis]

I couldn't get the USBASP working under Windows 10 because of Issues with the driver signature.
Does anybody know if there is a working driver available somewhere, that doesn't require to switch off all Windows security measueres?

I think  I ended up using libusbK from this install for windows 10 http://zadig.akeo.ie/

[bharatcs]

you can disable windows 10 driver verification

https://www.howtogeek.com/167723/how-to-disable-driver-signature-verification-on-64-bit-windows-8.1-so-that-you-can-install-unsigned-drivers/

OR

use the following driver from this link
http://zadig.akeo.ie/