I tried to read the flash from the device to backup the program, however the data that came out (no errors reported) was essentially blank. I did notice that there's a lock bit set "PROG_VER_DISABLED", but I have no idea what that means. I can't seem to find a definition of these lock bits anywhere. I'm guessing this is why I cannot backup the chip?
I really don't want to lose the original program, so I make have to solder the chip off the board (
). Once my new program is working I won't need to solder anymore boards, but until I know I have a working program, I need to keep the original safe.