It only lights when the PC connects to it. Its a very good programmer, but you (may) need DOS and a parallel port and may need an older PC. They also use identity cards that plug into the side--which is how it routes power, etc., for the type of chip you're burning. Make sure you have the right card installed for the type of chip you're burning. Just wanted to mention that, in case you bought it used, and didn't get the cards with it.

I've had my EMP10 for 15+ years and it has never failed to burn a chip. They're so good, it's worth keeping an old DOS machine, just for the burner IMHO. They also handle some of the oddball chips, like 2716's, 2516's, 2532's, etc.

The EMPs were built around 1997. They do not work with some newer PCs, because of a timing issue between the EMP10 and the newer motherboard UARTs. That said, I was pleasantly surprised when my EMP10 worked with my ASUS M4A88T-M motherboard (circa 2010). I boot to a FreeDOS partition using GRUB to select it at startup.

So you may have to try several PCs or older laptops to find one that works for you, but even newer PCs can work, you just have to try until you find one that works satisfactorily. There are some people that have gotten it to work under XP, but I've not had luck with that, and don't run XP anymore anyway.

Here is a good info page with links to several versions of the EMP software:

http://www.arcadesolution.com/needhams.html

Also if you search for 'EMP 10' you may find other useful info.

not to derail, but I've got an andromeda research labs AR-32a eprom burner that I'm looking to get rid of. I purchased it back in the day when modding xbox 360's were in fashion.

it's self-contained in a small plastic lunch-box style case with an ac adapter, parallel cable and the software on the original 3-1/2" floppy. I will also include a copy of the latest software on a cd-rom.

if I recall, it will run under windows 7 in a dos command prompt, but does require a parallel port on your pc. I think that I paid $300 back in the day for it (which is what it still retails for), but am open to reasonable offers