Arduino YUN: Serial Communication not working

Question

I have been unable to use the serial monitor with the Arduino YUN, I can download the compiled sketch with IDE 1.5.5 (on Windows XP via the USB connector that appears as COM6), the serial monitor opens but displays nothing. In order to investigate I modified the Blink example sketch as follows:

/*
Blink
Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.

This example code is in the public domain.
*/

// Pin 13 has an LED connected on most Arduino boards.
// give it a name:
int led = 13;

// the setup routine runs once when you press reset:
void setup() {
// initialize the digital pin as an output.
  pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600);
  while  (!Serial) {;}
  Serial.println("Blink Program");
}

// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(led, HIGH);   // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)
  Serial.println("Blink Program -H");
  delay(5000);               // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(led, LOW);    // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW
  Serial.println("Blink Program -L");
  delay(5000);               // wait for a second
}

The sketch upoloads and runs, I see the LED blinking, it does not wait for SerialMonitor to open. The SerialMonitor displays nothing. I have noticed that during the upload COM6 disappers from the Windows device manager, a new port COM7 appears, the upload completes successfully, COM7 disappears and COM6 reappears.
I have also found that the YunSerialTerminal example is not working.
Do other people have successfully used the IDE 1.5.5 SerialMonitor on Windows XP?
Should I conclude that my Arduino Yun board is malfunctioning?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Solution

I had the same problem. A reset on 32U4 solved the problem (the button on the left top corner, next to the Ethernet connector). The serial port appeared on the arduino 1.5.x IDE and the connection was established and the data received. Bridge and Console should be used when the selected port is the wifi one, not the real serial port. I hope that helps. Best,