It sounds to me like the crystal oscillator circuit is not starting to run when your circuit board starts up. I suggest that the crystal and its two capacitors need to be on very short connections to the microcontroller and NOT on 2 or 3 (6 to 10 cm) inches of wire. When working with circuits like this you really need to have access to an oscilloscope. Had you looked with one you may have seen that the oscillator was not running. Although there is also the good chance that simply touching the scope probe to the circuit would have made it start to run.

Michael Karas