I had my IR Toy v2 (firmware v22) up and running with WinLIRC just fine in Windows 10 for the past few months. But now, all of a sudden, the device is unresponsive: no longer shows up in Device Manager and the yellow LED just briefly flashes intermittently - once about every 20 seconds. I tried to use the hardwired jumper approach to start it in bootloader mode, but nothing happens; same every-20-second flash.
HELP!!! I have no idea what to try next. Is the device toast? Can I get a replacement? I've only had it for a few months!
Anyone? Nothing?
Last resort is to solder ICSP pins to the board, and flash it with an external programmer, like the PICkit3. I had similar symptom some time ago, and did exactly that. It worked.
Problem is that "normally" a PICkit3 (or equivalent) is much more expensive than an IrToy... Bit I just Googled for "PICkit3" and found some really good prices from Asian sources. No idea it that is to recommend...