I can't find my original post, but I seem to remember saying something about triple checking my connections. Sometimes quadruple checking is in order. After another half hour searching various places for hints (Atmel docs, AVRfreaks, google...) and getting more and more indications this should "just work", I pulled all the wiring apart and started again. Along the way I found a loose connection. In case you're interested: * the 162 comes from the factory with the fuse set for the internal oscillator, which works just fine with the AVRisp * all the ground connections on the 10 pin header need not be connected (though it helps to have at least one connected ;-) and it does just work. Thanks, Kevin -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different ways. See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.