active x object issue - variables

[the kick inside]

this is probably a stupid question but....(noob here at com!)

create active x object reference and create a event handler...this all works fine...

func object_MessageReceived($t,$m,$f)

msgbox(1,"",$t)

msgbox(1,"",$m)

msgbox(1,"",$f)

EndFunc

it all triggers fine and i get the values i would expect in $t and $f, but gibberish in $m! (I would expect "1" and i get in asc 63 63 23 7 2 65 8 30 for instance)

the gibberish even changes each time for he same values (although it seem to be 2 different strings that alternate and they don't look like a guid to me or anything...)

Now the only difference is the active x componant is declared with all 3 by var but $t,$f are integers and $m is a string...the ocx was written in vb6 if that helps!

anyone got any ideas??

ps apologies if its a dumb question as im new at this (cobol, tp6 im fine this is making me scratch my head but its well worth it i think AutoIT is totally awesome!)