Hello people
 I have been a part (mostly useless) of the list for seveal months and
I thought I had learned something.At least enough to get started.There
is a lot of good advice here and I need some of it real bad.
Here's my story :
 I built a programmer based on the an589 to program 16c84 pic's
I modified the circuit only enough so that my target circuit is part of
the layout.I initially assumed that the lcd module data lines were high
impedance inputs and so they were connected to rb6 & rb7 but that caused
programming errors and I have isolated them with a 3pdt switch.The
switch is labeled program/run. When switched to program the clock and
data
lines from the 74ls244 go directly to rb6-7 and the two data lines to
the
lcd are isolated. The third pole of the switch shifts MCLR from
the program voltage line to vdd +5v.
  pin 14 vdd of the pic is +5 allways.
  ra0-3 go to switches held high via 4.7k pull up's
  ra4 not connected
  rb0 goes to an optoisolator's led via 330 ohm resistor
  rb1-7 go to lcd control and data lines(except rb6-7 during
programming)
The osc1 pin has a 100 pf cap to ground and a 10k resistor to +5v
The osc2 pin is connected via a 680 ohm resistor to a bi color led for a
clock working indicator.<(added later).
Now here's my problem:
 If I take a new pic 16c84 straight out of the box put it in the ziff
and
power up in run mode the clock oscillates,pin 4 lights the led,no
problem.
BLANK CHIP
 Now I switch to program mode on my programmer hdw.I use a simple bit of
code that toggles rbo when ra0 or ra1 are brought low.This code works as
expected in picsim no error's and compiles in mpasm no errors.Using
prog84.exe
the pic  program's verifies etc. in 62 second no problem.I choose
rc,powerup
timer,lpt1,inhx8m in the programmer software setup window no wdt no code
protect
The clock STOPS no osc2 not a blip osc1 stays high osc2 stays low.I now
have 4
16c84 chip's that are dead.and I have only one left.Lest you think I'm
totally
stupid I did'nt use them all at once each time I have turned the board
inside
out looking for possible hdw error's shorted or overloaded pins etc.I
have no
clue anymore what to do and I therefore beg your collective assistance.
any
and all assitance will be greatly appreciated.I have tried to include
the
information needed and I apologise if it seem's a bit verbose.
 You may of course e_mail me direct if the subject seems to elementary
for the list.
        my regards      Tony M.
tony@mailhost.magicnet.net