Updated my AVRDUDE and it now shows 6.3 when started.It also shows both m328p and m328 in the menu.
Tried another AVR programming using both m328p / m328 commands and still nothing.
Going to wait for the new 328p-au chips and try one of those to verify it is not something else going wrong.
Not long ago had plugged a project into the programmer using the very same methods and it worked perfectly...so doubt this is any other problem other than this new chip...but never know.
Will post results soon as I can.
And here is my typical routine for programming this project repeated dozens of times with success -
Jim