Hey Jerson - long time no talk. Thanks for the tips. I'll try them out in a little bit.

Darrel - I didn't have the cap on the MCLR originally. If I understand you correctly, I can get rid of the cap and the smaller resistor and just use 12K ohm?

Regarding the AVdd and AVss pins, I didn't see anywhere in the datasheet where it states you have to have it connected even if you don't use the analog pins. I may have missed it but I didn't see it mentioned. I had first left it unconnected and then connected it after looking at the demo board schematic. This couldn't have damaged the PIC, could it have?

I see a "mistake" on my ENVREG pin. My brain must have been shut off last night!. I intended to tie the ENVREG pin to Vdd through a 1K ohm resistor. I tied it to the wrong side, which means it is actually tied into MCLR. Hmmmmm, I can see how that would cause serious problems with programming. As far as programming, does the ENVREG pin need to be set up correctly only to program?

Lastly, on my Vcap (pin 12) I have a .1uF ceramic cap to ground. Is this an issue?