If you can find a pair of 0805-packaged SMT 1K0 resistors and a 150 pf 0805-packaged capacitor, solder a resistor between pins 13 and 12 and between pins 11 and 10 of a 74HC04 or 74LS04. Even a '14 should work.

Next, solder the 150 pf cap between pins 12 and 11.

Now solder the two crystal leads, with leads trimmed as short as you can and still make it fit, to pins 10 and 13. Then take the trimmed remnant of the crystal lead, and solder it betwen pins 10 and 9. Now, on pin 8, which is the same output pin as is found on 14-pin-sized crystal oscillators, you will have a pretty good oscillator that starts readily and doesn't drop out or falter. You can confidently feet your MCU with that clock that appears on pin 8.

See if that solves your oacillator problem. I've done this several times in last few weeks using crystals ranging from 4 MHz to 24 MHz, with good results.

An oscilloscope and frequency counter would be helpful, as the 'scope will tell you whether it's oscillating, and a counter will tell you whether the frequency is correct. If it's not, and it's significantly (>10%)"off-specification," it's likely there are missing pulses, and something's fundamentally wrong.

RE