To be crystal clear, you don't connect the Escient to the RFX9600. Therefore, the RFX9600 statement has no bearing to your post. The TSU9600 accesses the Escient from the network not via serial.

Did you edit the Device Properties and specify the DHCP host name of your Escient MX box or its IP Address? You also did not mention which version of the Escient Update (firmware version) you have. It must be 4.1.7.8 or higher (for E2 or DVDM-100).

If you are running the latest (Nov 2006), then the MX series may not yet be supported. Philips has only publicly stated support for the E2 series. However, music can also be accessed (although a bit crippled and this is my configuration) from a DVDM-100 using Fireball PC. Firmware 4.1.7.8 is required for this to work.