Good data from "Madworm" of Arduino forum:
http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?action=print;num=1243607033
madworm wrote:
Did you already do the RX/TX pin loopback test ?
Take a wire and connect RESET to GND to disable the microcontroller.
Then take another wire and short pin-0 and pin-1.
Use the serial monitor and input some text. If you press SEND, it should be echoed back.
If that works, it may be a bootloader problem or a dead chip.
You can try changing the upload speed of the IDE for your board. It's either 19200 or 57600.
Changes need to be made in boards.txt + restart of the software.
I just do that and review text descritp, then done. Thanxs madworm