If you read these posts carefully, you will see that all the 'problems' are related to not reading the datasheets.

Most of the problems, Erik. Not all of them.

I was refering to the post(on esacademy - yes, the same thread where you rightly advocated reading the datasheet first) which said that a certain series of 89v51rd2 was supposedly shipped without the bootcode. Another post offered a solution to write in the bootcode using a parallel programmer.

Well, I dont have a parallel programmer for the Phillips range of microcontrollers. The isp for this device is apparently very simple. I know that it directly enters isp mode after reset and stays there for about 400ms before entering the standard run mode(0000h). I am most interested in using this device but am yet to come accross a person who has succesfully used the isp on this device(without doing the parallel stuff first).

Has anyone ever used it without modifying the device using a parallel programmer ?