Anyone have unblemished success programming an 18F4431 on a MELABS USB programmer ? Any hints to share ?

I can get 3 out of 5 devices to program, the others just throw programming errors. I've tried adding the infamous capacitor. Melabs are strangely silent when asked for support.

I checked the MC programming notes today and I'm going to check the analog supplies (AVdd and AVss) are connected tonight.

Last other check I threw up searching today was to try programming with MCLR ON ?

Otherwise I guess I'll need to buy a PicKIT 2 ?

Andrew