I have assembled my board, and some components appear to work well.

Basically, I took on someones idea of loading the chip directly with data instead of making a "hardware ROM". I actually used the idea and did it straight to the EEPROM.

Now according to my tests, (Yes, I'm the wise one that uses an LED and resistor in series to test several connection points. It is faster than a multimeter)...

Now, my hardware tests show that I am able to send any data from the PC (computer) to any of the first 256 bytes of EEPROM space. Yes, I checked the logic on it.

HOWEVER, as soon as I tried running the code off of the EEPROM (even with the parallel port disconnected from the circuit (using a 74HC245) I get erratic results.

for some reason, it partially works.

Much of my decoding logic has been taken from PJRC's design. See the following URL:

http://pjrc.com/tech/8051/board5/schematic.html

My 4-input nand gates and decoder are connected in the same way, and my LCD enable is connected to a NOR gate output. The NOR inputs are connected to the processor WR pin and Y0 (address 0) of the decoder (74HC138).

My nand gates are 74HC20, while the published one is 74AC20.

I was just wondering, do I need tons of resistors?

I ask that because when the program runs off of the ROM, I want the WR pin to be high. Likewise, I want the RD pin to be high when I am programming the rom.

Also, all of the chips I use are of the same family (74HC).