Yeah, I am having very inconsistent results with Arduino and Max. It's very frustrating because it always seems to crap out when I am trying to demo my project. I try leaving it going but this stops after awhile, too. After 1/2 hour of rebooting, plugging and unplugging, restarting Max, etc., I often have to apologize and give up. Then 10 minutes later after my friend has left it works fine. Fortunately I made a video when it worked so people don't think I'm crazy/lying. But it has brought my progress to a grinding halt since I spend most of my time getting it to work, then never know when it will crap out again. It will work fine at night then I get up in the morning and it doesn't work. Should I reinstall Windows?
Max sees the COM port where the Arduino is (most of the time) but sometimes it just doesn't do anything, no TX/RX lights, nothing. Is there a COM port expert out there who can give me some guidance?

Oh, BTW, I still can't launch arduino.exe from the start menu or clicking it directly, I have to use run.bat. I just got a Wiring card - maybe I will start over.
Update: Okay, the Max issue is solved - it had to do with whether I opened the patch from the "Recent" menu or directly - there were two copies and one was in a folder that didn't have the supporting files, so no soap. Hopefully they will make their file management system better someday.
Meanwhile, still can't launch Arduino.exe without run.bat, but for now at least I can move ahead. Whew.