Microcontrollers_Microchips

[olymbou]

Hi everyone. I want to know if I could disolder programmed microcontroller from a curcuit board. Then place it and copy it onto a Universal programmer, computer.Then save it on the pc for later use .for example to reprogramme an empty microcontroller or reprogramme a defaulted one.Do the microcontrollers from the manufacturers contain a security code or are they locked or anythng else? Need Help!!!

[joshnz]

Re: Microcontrollers_Microchips

Hi most micro-controllers can only be erased then programmed if they have been locked.
So if they are locked they can't be read.

[mariushm]

Re: Microcontrollers_Microchips

I hope you understand the difference between actual microcontrollers and eeprom/flash chips. The later are just memory chips that can be read and written to with universal programmers (if the programmer supports that chip).

Most microcontrollers are locked by the company after they're written (they become read only, or your universal programmer simply reads zeros or "spaces" from the memory because the code protection prevents the programmer from getting actual code).

There are some companies that can disable those protections and extract code for you but it usually costs something between $100 and thousands of dollars for a chip. There are other companies who have access to machines that allow them to remove the lid off the chip or x-ray the chip and see the actual flash memory silicon and "read" the individual bits by looking at the state of those transistors that hold the bits. But this would be very, very expensive.