"chips are from the China plant and they are buggy"

That is news. OK maybe that will explain the odd behaviour of a bunch of 89c52 which once locked can never be erased nor programmed. Picked up a tight line with the supplier of the programmer and he had called it back for check up.

Anyway now peace prevails and I can lock and unlock to my hearts content.

I thought irrespective of the country of origin, ATMEL will put thier foot down on issues pertaining to quality. It doesnt look to be so.

Raghu