Re Pinouts:

I have checked for shorts as described...NO SHORTS.

Further, we have built a cable to my pinout drawing and tested it...works fine.

When connecting between PC and Pronto in ProntoEdit, there is hadshaking which occurs and checks for valid CCF in Pronto as well as confirms desire to load new.
I suspect that all communications is software flow controlled with error checking/correction. This od course is one of the right ways, right?...rather than assuming it got there..... Would one expect anything less from a design team that seems to have gotten everything else right?