php.serial class whackyness

Using Arduino Programming Questions
10

I added this "delayer". It doesnt help either. WTF this is driving me nuts. PHP is supposed to be the easy part for me.
Im getting results only about 20% of the time.

function microtime_float()
{
        list($usec, $sec) = explode(" ", microtime());
        return ((float)$usec + (float)$sec);
}

$read = '';
$theResult = '';
$start = microtime_float();

while ( ($read == '') && (microtime_float() <= $start + 1) ) {
        $read = $serial->readPort();
        if ($read != '') {
                $theResult .= $read;
                $read = '';
        }
}
	$serial->deviceClose();

// etc...

echo "Read data: ".$theResult."
";