Quote Originally Posted by MadAl View Post
Are you saying this PIC means trouble?? Should I find a 'safer' alternative? Any suggestions are welcome!!
No, just that you heated it up once. It's most likely done for...

The PCB is professionally made, not just an experimental setup.
I've got cars, tv's, water heaters, and a septic system... All of which have been 'professionally made' and/or installed. Guess what? They've all failed at one time or another...

After the bootloader is in place in a virgin PIC and hooking up the power, the PIC stays cool. But after uploading the program the heat is on. This would imply the error is indeed in the program, not in the PIC or PCB.
Sure does. Something tells me that something in the program is turning off the A/D module, setting the pin back to digital mode and setting it low.