I'm having the exact same problem with the 16F877.

I've posted about this problem before (in this list and also in
alt.microcontrollers.8bit, comp.arch.embedded, MicroChip PicMicro Discussion
Group and directly to MicroChip tech support) but so far no answer?!?!

I've noticed that recompiling the same code to other similar chips such as
the 16C67 and 16C77 in MPLAB does allow the SSPSTAT<6> (CKE) bit to be
changed. So it would seem that even if the chips (16F876 and 16F877)
probably do support the CKE bit, MPLAB's chip definitions for these same
chips don't...

Hello ? MicroChip ? Anybody home ?

T.H.