Ahhh, yes... the wrong xtal would do it.

No amount of fooling with code and registers will help if the hardware is broken.

Last week I spent 2 hours looking over a data sheet to see what registers and settings were wrong when I couldn't get a new circuit to work.
The problem turned out to be 1 unsoldered pin on a 44TQFP part...

Let us know how it goes with the right xtal.


steve