Thanks for the update. I think I had found out what my problem is. I am trying to directly connect the serial output of my 18f4550 to my pc com port. I don't think this would work for 232 directly. This was probably why I was getting the problems on this program and on my regular com programs and why I could bridge the pins on the serial cable of the pc and still get it to echo properly. On the other hand, I do have another serial device that was home made, that I know sends the right signals that won't work on my pc but works on someone else's, so it could be my drivers and install of windows XP. Either way it would be better for me to use an FTDI chip to convert to 232 and use it as a USB com port, so I ordered a breakout kit from sparkfun and will try that next.

If you have a working .cd folder that could take a few numbers in from a com port, would you mind zipping it and mailing it to me? It would help working backwards from a good starting point software wise so I know that won't be the issue. If you don't have it anymore, I'll try doing it myself.
thanks for the help and I'll try the new code when I get that far.

Dylan