SimpleStep motor controller board

I am trying to talk to the serial port on a SimpleStep motor controller board.

I am using NI-VISA through a generic USB-serial cable.

When using TeraTerm, I can manually issue queries and get responses.

However, when I run my LabVIEW 6.1 VI, I will get results 1 out 10 times.

The other times there are no bytes read.

I have tried having the serial port terminate on CR character.

I have tried not having the serial port terminate on anything and instead read the number of bytes at the port.

I am at wit's end what to try next.