Microchip Technologies In Circuit Debugger 2

The ICD2 has been replaced by the ICD3

There are two models of ICD2, with different USB interface chips. Part number 10-00319 is based on Cypress USB chips and will not be supported by Vista x64 or Windows 7 x64 as per Microchip. (see below for a workaround). The later Part number 10-00397 units, which are based on the PIC18F4550, will work under Win7 32 and under 64 with a driver update.

Pre-Install the USB driver before connecting the ICD2! The most common error encountered is the
ICD0019: Communications: Failed to open port: (Windows::GetLastError() = 0x2, 'The system cannot find the file specified.')
ICD0021: Unable to connect with MPLAB ICD 2
error, which is typically related to the installation of the USB communications driver. The driver /should/ be pre-installed using the update/pre-install program included with MPLAB automatically when MPLAB is installed. However, many people report having to run it seperatly. The documentation and step by step directions are in the ICD2/Drivers folder in ddicd2.htm as of MPLAB v8.80. 2011/12/16

Don't connect the power adapter when connecting the USB cable

ICD2 can destroy parts with VPP(max) less than 12V: When connecting to certain devices, the ICD2 will popup this warning:
ICDWarn0068: This device has a VPP(max) below the minimum ICD2 VPP level of 12V. Please ensure that external protection for MCLR is in place (Press the Help button for an example circuit or use AC164112 available from microchipDIRECT.com)"

A little searching finds:
http://www.microchip.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=409832 Yep… the ICD2 will kill any device in the:

• PIC16F727  Family
• PIC16F1937 Family
• PIC18F14K22 Family
• PIC18F14K50 Family
• PIC18F46K20 Family
• PIC24F16KA102 Family

So one must modify the board to limit VPP or put out another $10 to make it compatible:
http://www.microchipdirect.com/productsearch.aspx?Keywords=AC164112
http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/1583015-voltage-limiter-mplab-icd2-vpp-ac164112.html

See also:

• http://kill-nine.org/?q=node/2 Great find on how to install MPLAB and ICD2's (including the old P/N 10-00319) in Windows 7 (Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate; you can't install XP mode on Home Premium... or maybe you can: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-xp-mode-windows-7-win7,10213.html) by using "XP Mode"^ There is one minor error, which is that you /must/ use the pre-installer or exactly follow the instructions to install the ICD drivers in the XP mode (just letting windows find and install the correct driver will NOT work).
  
  "{when you} attach your ICD2, windows 7 will pick up on it first and fail to install the drivers. Wait for this process to complete then click on the "USB" menu at the top of the XP virtual machine. Choose the unknown device, and "attach" it. You may be better off removing any superfluous USB devices before doing this to make identifying the ICD2 easier. Once you have attached the device, you will be prompted to install the driver from within the XP VM. Follow the normal procedure to install the ICD2 drivers"
  
  At this point, follow the EXACT MPLAB documentation to install the first driver. I had to run the "Update Installation and & Clean" procedure from \Microchip\MPLAB IDE\Utilities\MPUsbClean\MPUsbDocs\Update_Clean.htm and both update, then pre-install the driver before disconnecting and re-connecting the ICD2.
  
  "Once the driver has been installed, we aren't quite there. The trick here is that the ICD2 actually has 2 seperate USB devices associated with it. We will now need to once again go to the USB menu, locate the "unknown" device and attach it. Again we will need to let windows locate the correct driver for the device and install it.
  
  At this point, the ICD2 will function from within the XP virtual machine, along with the install of MPLab. One nice thing is, once you have completed this process, you can go Start -> All Programs -> Windows Virtual PC -> Windows XP mode Applications, and launch MPLab directly from there. The VM still needs to start up and run in the background, but the MPLab window looks like a native application, rather then running within the VM window (tho once you actually start using it, it'll become fairly obvious that a lot more is running in the background)."
  
  "One more thing to note. You will need to attach the USB device twice every time you launch MPLab (from the "USB" menu if you launch the VM first, by right clicking on the system tray icon if you launch MPLab directly)."
• http://www.icd2clone.com/wiki/Main_Page How to make your own ICD2 Clone.

Comments:

• It helped me use my ICD2 programmer on Windows 7 X64.
  
  However, I just intalled the driver in the virtual machine and kept the unknown device released. The programmer then worked with the MPLAB inlstalled on Windows 7 without any problems even after closing the virtual PC.
  This process needs however be repeated if the system has been rebooted since.+