Howard and amanda,i have tried the google route and got no where on this programing issue,if i had rest assured i would not be asking here,i have programing experiance but not with microchip products,i am used to atmels offerings,pics seem a lot different,i iam trying to find out whats going on,ie is this read write protect issue i have the same for everyone else?,or do i have a faulty pickit3 that i need to send back or same with the atu pcb,my last one of these is fine its just i have never tried to read or write the ic,i only got the programer yesterday and have only just started playing with it,also why spend hours going down dead ends with google when hopefully someone here has had the same issues and could advise me,in the same situation what would you do,ive been taught if you dont know the answer ask someone who does!.