Reading protected code from PIC?

[hameeds01]

Is there any way to read the code from a protected PIC microcontrollers ??

 

[pcup]

Hi,
Interesting Question..
Please let me know what do you mean by "Protected"..
What kind of Programmed and Protected Microcontroller you have right now..?
Do you have any Hex to C or Assembly converter to read and understand code..?
Thank You
Pcup

 

[manish23]

no , there is no way to read the protected [ lock] chip , from any family ,pic atmel etc.

 

[abidr]

There definitely are techniques of reading protected code, unfortunately they require high end equipment like electron microscope, etc which is way beyond the reach of enthusiasts, or experimenting with voltage and current surges to the PIC which requires lot of patience.
There is a complete article on reading protected code from the pic, just google around and you ll find it.
I read it few years back and is pretty informative.
check out the links below:
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**

 

[pranam77]

Yes my friend. Its posiible to read any code protected Chip. This website
"www.break-ic.com"claims about the same and you can get more info from this. I have personally spent 45 days trying to break my own code from a PIC12F508
and at last i succeeded to get half the code. In this case i agree with "abidr" that more presicion and expensive gadgets are required to do that. Good luck

 

[spgoddard]

WRONG, all WRONG!:roll:

There IS a programmer which can do just this. I can't remember which one, but I was introduced to it today and I successfully read a protected PIC I have been playing with for the best part of two years.

We blew the copied code into a new device, put it into the system socket and HEY PRESTO...IT WORKED! :-D:-D

I'll post the name of this programmer in a few days. TOP marks to the people who created this little "gem". Of course, it should NEVER be used to steal the honest hard work of ANY programmer or infringe copyright. The PIC I was trying to get at was one I wrote the code for, then lost the original files for so no illegal activity there then :wink:.

 

[Shaheers]

We will be waiting for dude then. . . .

 

[Raza]

In some other forum I came across such questions and found a post by some guy who said it is possible and he gave the program name. Long time I forgot to pursue the same and then I found that .EXE file, but that is for some NT PIC programmer. Though they have created a button on the programmer interface as CP (Clear Protection). I do not know whether it works for all IC's lock bit or just for that programmer. Never tried. And it is same as in post #4.
Here is a link on a long research of Code Protection breaking. Good guide to ........... and informative at the same time.
Breaking copy protection in microcontrollers

 

[Daztech]

WRONG, all WRONG!:roll:

There IS a programmer which can do just this. I can't remember which one, but I was introduced to it today and I successfully read a protected PIC I have been playing with for the best part of two years.

We blew the copied code into a new device, put it into the system socket and HEY PRESTO...IT WORKED! :-D:-D

I'll post the name of this programmer in a few days. TOP marks to the people who created this little "gem". Of course, it should NEVER be used to steal the honest hard work of ANY programmer or infringe copyright. The PIC I was trying to get at was one I wrote the code for, then lost the original files for so no illegal activity there then :wink:.

Hi did you ever post which programmer that just did this, I have come across one called NTICPROG.exe with the clear CP command, but I have not tried it yet though. I have paid for some code development and the coder is now holding me to ransom, he will not release source code to me, as well as paying for the code development I have to pay for each chip I use as he will program them for me and post them to me, but its not what I want. I paid for my code to be developed and as such want my source code, unfortunately I paid before receiving the source code, I never do this now.

Consequently I want to recover the code from a chip, so that I do not have to pay £25 for every chip that I need.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards

Darren

 

[spgoddard]

I ROFLMFAO when I saw what make it was!!

Microchips OWN Promate II

If you can get one...ENJOY the no longer make the model which does this so you need to look around for one.

 

[pjmelect]

Is there any way to read the code from a protected PIC microcontrollers ??

Yes there is, and it is relatively simple to do although destructive. The method is to (only) program the configuration bits, but with a increased programming voltage thus destroying the configuration bits causing them to float to a logic one. This renders the chip useless but enables you to read the chip. A friend of mine did this to copy a satellite decoder chip and to our surprise it worked

 

[tpetar]

Is there any way to read the code from a protected PIC microcontrollers ??

Of course my friend, but this is job for specialized crew with some hitech lab.

http://www.break-ic.com/

You should ask different question: Is there way to protect code in uC? ;-)

You can search edaboard forum threads, we speak about this earlier.

---------- Post added at 03:30 ---------- Previous post was at 03:18 ----------

Another link:

http://www.mcu-reverse.com/

---------- Post added at 03:32 ---------- Previous post was at 03:30 ----------

You can send them original PCB, they send back complete parts with extracted codes, with PCB, masks,.... all prepared for manufacturing (cloning)