mullet loop date goes missing after 4th post all other content is visible

I don’t know if this is a bug with my code or with wordpress 2.7. I haven’t been able to find any info on the web or here so decided to post. I’m knew to theming so be gentle

The loop is working fine all content is brought back for 8 posts and 1 headline post. Except after post #4 the date will not show up on that post and any post going backwards.

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
	<?php $count = 0; ?>

	<?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
		<?php $count++; ?>

		<!-- for each post, increase the count  -->

		<?php if ($count == 1) : ?>

			<!-- First Post -->

	<div id="articlegroupfull">
		<h1> <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"> <?php the_title(); ?> </a></h1>
		<p class="date"> <?php the_date() ?> 

			<!-- display the EXCERPT (or full content) content of the first post only -->

			<?php the_content(); ?> 

			<!-- process any code specified in this region after the content of the first post -->

	<div id="commentgroupfull"> <a href="a"><?php comments_number(); ?></a> |  <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title_attribute(); ?>">Read More:<?php the_title(); ?></a></div>

</div>

		<?php else : ?>

			<!-- Not First Post So Let's Break It Into Our Columns 3 by 3 be sure to change setting in WOrdpress admin to show only 7 posts -->
			<div class="articlegroup">
				<h1> <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"> <?php the_title(); ?> </a></h1>
					<p class="articlegroupdate"> <?php the_date() ?> 

					<?php the_excerpt(); ?> <!-- display only the excerpt for all other posts -->
						<div class="commentgroupleftright"> <a href="a"><?php comments_number(); ?></a> |  <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to <?php the_title_attribute(); ?>">Read More:<?php the_title(); ?></a>
						</div>

		     </div>

		<!-- End processing all the posts-->
		<?php endif; ?>

		<!-- Process any additional code that will appear in all posts -->

	<?php endwhile; ?>

<div class="navall">
	<!--  ends posts put the navbar -->
	<?php posts_nav_link() ?><?php previous_post_link(); ?>
</div>

<?php else : ?>

	<!-- No posts do something - place it here
 -->

<?php endif; ?>

<!--  Let's continue writing out my design structure-->

Here is the output for the 4th line, notice the date just did not get written out.

<h1> <a href="https://uidesignguide.com/ALPHA/?p=9"> Design Guide Foums Test </a></h1>
<p class="articlegroupdate">  </p>