I think I have got my answers now after consolidating the various pointers from the members.

It does reinforce my belief on the reliability of bits. And as with all things engineering, there is no universal solution for every problem and each one has to be treated on its own merits - if the failure of a bit can put a human to risk, then I might as well think of more safety than a bit alone.

Erik:
"Ever so often we see posts like this one, basically "is the chip any good"".

All along I never had any doubt on an MCU from Philips and reason to believe that it was the cause of my grief. I generally know the kind of tests and tribulations that these have to pass before being declared open for the market. In almost all the cases every problem is due to lack of understanding and proper application and not reading the data sheet "well". Maybe the subject line was blunt and sounding like a fundamental doubt on the quality of MCU - sorry if so.

Now that we have got enough answers to ponder over, it is time to close the thread with big THANKS.

Bye.

Raghu