I tried all those things mentioned above - 20K pot for contrast, etc, etc.

But it still doesnt work !!

The LCD lights up...but doesn't display anything. The PIC is working fine by itself, I tested it. But its not communicating with the LCD. I think the problem has something to do with the clock/oscillator.

Do I need to connect an external resonator (20MHz) to the two OSC pins of the PIC ? If so, how do I do it ? Do I need to add something to my code ? How ?

Please help.