I'm having an issue with a COM port not sending commands until I open up HyperTerminal. If I connect one RS232 cable from COM1 port to COM2 port, I can send messages back and forth using two instances of HyperTerminal. Once a connection is established, I can then disconnect from COM2 and connect it to the hardware that needs the message, and it will execute just fine. I have to do this every time I restart the PC, otherwise nothing will happen.
I'm using a batch file to send the commands with this line: echo hello>com1
We're also running on Windows XP.