Up/Down counter not preloading to Interface Read value?

Can anyone see what is wrong with this schematic design? The Read Interface is preset to 1, and the Read block reads 0 even after clicking on Read. My understanding is that it should be 1, a copy of the interface value. The GPIO's are configured to be inputs with 40ms debouncing. Using the 1761 eval board, S3 and S4 should make the counter change value up or down but nothing is happening. First things first, why is the coded interface value of 1 not getting loaded into the counter?

EDIT - one other thing. With the 1761 eval board and USBi, is there flash to store a program or it has to be loaded from PC every time power is cycled?