Hi Trevor. It sounds like the exact same problem I had with mine. My controller wouldn't fire up unless the power was plugged directly into it, and even when I plugged the power into the hand controller it wouldn't scroll through the menu's, it'd just have the "COMM ERROR Or No Connection" on the display. If your controller is working OK apart from the error you might just have to send the cable back.
Mine turned out to be a bad cable, hand controller and a motor was out of position. I had to send the whole lot to Tasco (at my expense) to be repaired under warranty. They replaced the hand controller and lead and repositioned a motor to the correct tolerances and to their credit the turnaround time was quick. I hope yours isn't that bad. It is very disappointing to see I'm not the only one that got a dud. A cable is such a simple item to check during manufacturing and obviously they don't bother, that's terrible QC policy.
