Yes Vigensh, we do have a problem of lousy components from the local market.

While on the subject of crystals, I have never come up with so many dud ones. Incidentally there is MUCH more to the physical distance and track layout of the crystal with reference to the MCU pins. You may care to check out http://www.8052.com/faq.phtml?FAQ=94 where Prahlad has compiled a list of useful tips on this and other issues with PCBs. Or maybe you could download the pdf from the Intel site " Oscillators for Microcontrollers" (AP-155) and learn all about the crystal stuff.

While the idea to use a dedicated oscillator is good, in most cases it may not be required if you manage to get the simple crystal going.

And just to reassure you on the number of erasures / reprograms on the Atmel chips, I can tell you this much : Most of times it is due to issues outside the flash. And though it appears like you have programmed it " many many " times, in effect it would not have been not more than a few hundreds at best. Each erasure and program download does take a few minutes, and if you care to mutliply it by 1000, you will realize what I am hinting at.

Kinldy note that the above is my experience. Your mileage may vary.

Raghu