Help: IFI loader not communicating with control unit

[red_alert_13]

We are trying to hook up our robot controller to our computer to test the motors. We connected the two with a serial cable (the end connected to the robot controller went to the program port), and pressed the PROG button until the Program State light was a solid yellow. We ran the IFI loader program, and pointed it to the default .hex file supplied in the 2006 source code. When we clicked the download button it displayed a message stating: "Port failed to open". We tried with all 12 possible ports, none gave any other answer. We also tried using EasyC to download an unchanged project .hex file using the in-program download utility. This time, with port 2, it displayed the download progress bar, and at some point said that port 2 was open. However, after a few seconds, it stopped and told us to check to make sure that the serial cable was connected (which it was) and that the robot controller was on (which it was). We are out of ideas. Any suggestions would be helpful. This is our first year in competition, and we have NEVER used this software before. Thanks in advance!