odd number of ram variables hangs lcd.c on pic33

[soundscu]

I'm using a PIC33FJ128GP804 with a standard 2-line LCD and the CCS lcd.c driver. It has been working fine during initial code setup/test/development, there are no hardware issues.

As I add code to my application, I find that startup sometimes hangs inside the lcd init routine.

Looking closely at the compiled assembler instructions in the lcd routines, I have found that if there is an odd number of 8-bit variables declared in my code (which appear before the include statement for lcd.c) , then routines inside lcd.c will hang. If I declare one additional (unused) int8 variable to push everything up 1 byte, then lcd.c works fine again.

As I add code and variables I must comment/uncomment the added int8 variable to ensure the lcd.c routines will run.

Not having looked any closer yet, my intuition thinks that part of the compiler is still "thinking 8-bit" even though I'm using a 16-bit part.

Am I doing something wrong, or does this sound like a compiler bug?

Thank you for your time,
Jim