code testing

when sending 8 bits to the serial port and testing the length of characters inside the output buffer , it returns 0 which means nottin is getting to teh serial port


Private Sub Form_Load()
MSComm1.CommPort = 1
MSComm1.Settings = "2400,N,8,1"
MSComm1.DTREnable = True
MSComm1.PortOpen = True
MSComm1.Output = "11110010"
Text1.Text = 11110010
Text2.Text = MSComm1.OutBufferCount
MSComm1.PortOpen = False
end sub

any ideas to get this code work?