hi zmanultra,
if you try to use the internal USART you must use HSEROUT command.

ex :
DEFINE HSER_BAUD 9600
HSEROUT ["HELLO WORLD"]

SEROUT can be write like this if you do not use internal USART

ex : SEROUT PORTB.7,2,["HELLO WORLD"] ;where 2 is 9600 baud
;driven true

to send @9600 baud 20MHZ crystal is high recommend
you must also include
DEFINE OSC 20 ;define external crystal 20MHZ


i recommend to include PORTB.7=1 at the beginning of the program. In some case if you don't do it, the first character will be maybe not well send.

if your display seems to be still weird, if you use an external max232 to send data to yoyr pc you must use

SEROUT PORTB.7,6,["HELLO WORLD"] ;where 6 is 9600 baud
; driven inverted

hope this help

regards