Hello,
A timeout error occurs, for example, when a read operation does not complete before the specified timeout period. The read operation can fail to complete for the following reasons:
1. you did not receive the termination character you expected, nor the specified number of bytes to read in the timeout period specified. You may try increasing the timeout period, changing the termination character to one being used by the "sender" or decreasing the number of bytes you specify for your read operation
2. you are communicating at a sufficiently high baud rate without using termination and/or over a sufficiently long distance and/or in a sufficiently noisy environment that the actual frames which are being sent are not being received correctly. You may try using so-called "proper" termination and/or biasing on the network (see link below), decreasing the baud rate (at both ends since it must match for both communicating ports), decreasing the distance you are connecting over (unless this is very long, this is likely NOT the issue).
Link: http://www.ni.com/support/serial/resinfo.htm
If you are still having problems feel free to repost!
Best Regards,
JLS