Jeff, I doubt the 430's will solve your problem - you'll find they work much the same way as a 8051. The core problem with your code is that the uart can only cope with one character at a time, so you simply can't shove 3 bytes into it and expect it to send it out, nor read it three times to get 3 characters out of it. The serial interrupt gets called when there is a character available or it is ready to send another - your code has to manage grabbing the incoming chars and sending the outgoing.

As others have said - concentrate on one problem at a time - get your serial stuff sorted first up. There's heaps of example code everywhere on the web and on this site, if you don't understand it, then ask specific questions. Ask the right question then you have a chance of getting the right answer. Just because you've spent the last week flogging a dead horse doesn't justify expecting a free ride. "If you're running in the wrong direction, running as fast as you can won't get you to your destination".



BTW if you're getting SH** at work, maybe its time to find another job!