Explorer 16 PORTA LED problem

[aj9999]

I am using MPLAB/C30 with an explorer16 board and a PIC24fj128GA010 PIM. I am attempting to flash the LEDs attached to port A. I can flash any of the LEDs independently but when I try to flash more than one of them only the first one listed in the code will work. In the code below RA0 will flash but not RA1. If I reverse the order so that RA1 is first then RA0 will work but not RA1 will. If I use PORTA = 0x03 then it works so it appears to be a problem with the PORTAbits.RA? command but i dont know why.

#include <p24FJ128GA010.h>
#include <16BitDelay.h>

int main()
{
  AD1PCFG = 0xffff;
  TRISA = 0x00;
  PORTA = 0x00;

  while(1)
  {
    PORTAbits.RA0 = 1;
    PORTAbits.RA1 = 1;
    msDelay(500);
    PORTAbits.RA0 = 0;
    PORTAbits.RA1 = 0;
    msDelay(500);
  }
}

and from the delay.h file

int x=0;

void msDelay(int d)
{
  while (d>0)
  {
    for (x=0; x<500; x++)
    {
    }
  d--;
  }
}

 

[ProEngineer]

Use "LATA" for outputtting ...use PORTA for reading

 

[aj9999]

LATA worked, but i dont know why. I have used PORT numerous times before without issue. I wonder if it has somthing to do with successive read/modify?
Well thanks for setting me on the correct path.[/code]