Lisa,
I got out of the 8255 in ~1995 but used it heavily till then. I seem to recall, I may be wrong, but check around. There should be some kind of delay(s?) around the initialization of the ports and you have none. Maybe this will trigger the memory of a more recent user

Erik

To the pointbusters:
it states "I may be wrong", if I am, go ahead and give me negative points, should you so desire, but do not do it without explaining