I just built the same Highend preamp but there's something wrong! I'm not sure if the microchip isn't programmed correctly or what.

Led doesn't light up and only thing I get to light up is the 16 blocks on first line of the LCD if I turn the contrast pot. No backlight even. I get the 5V right on all the measuring points, but for example the LCD backlight pin (pin16) and the led's other pin are about +1,2V (the other is +5V). Should they be minus something or 0? Or does this mean that the microcontroller doesn't work right? Those points are under its control in some way...
What should I do? I thought I could build a simple programmer board and try to program the chip myself but if it still doesn't work I really don't know what to do. I guess I just have to order another pic18f452 that is preprogrammed?