It's difficult to propose a solution based on your description of the problem, especially if your settings (data bits, stop bits, parity, flow control, etc.) are set as required by your instrument. It does, however, sound like a data bit problem (8 bit ASCII translated as 7 or vice versa; then the answer will look like gibberish, as you say; check the data bit setting on your port init vi) or maybe it's simply the display method in your text indicator window (hex, codes, etc.); just right-click it to change the display method. (You probably know this, but it might be worth mentioning in case you don't.. 🙂
If it's none of the above, post your code, it might be easier to suggest a solution then.
