Hi Helmut,
please accept my apologies; it was the end of a hard day with some unexpected blows, and I got into complaint mode (never a good idea)...and came off like a mixture of a jerk and idiot (take your pick). I promise to never complain about LTspice again (no matter how frustrated I get LOL).
Fact is, it's a gift worth its weight in diamonds, and I'm grateful to have both a spice with a very user-friendly interface and a yahoo group LTspice moderator who has displayed extraordinary patience and helpfulness for years...wow.
I'll see if I can recreate that node problem with the TI model, and if I can, post it here; maybe it'll be helpful to find out why some outside models/symbols are problematic to use. In the meantime, I'll take the suggestion of another poster to use the universal op amp model and change parameters as needed; GREAT idea, much thanks.
VB, Maturin