Breakdown in Communications problemFollow

I've gotten to the part of the sewers/Tipt/Vxed section where you zone into Tipt or Vxed and spawn the scout. I did that, however, I was unable to interact with the scout. I was invis but didn't realize this until I had left the expedition. I went back to Vaifan in the Abysmal Sea and got the parts again. I went back to Tipt, hit the combine but got the message that although I did everything correctly, the scout sparked, caught fire and was destroyed. The last line was, "what is it that you are doing wrong." I rechecked the operations manual and talked to Vaifan again. It appears that, other than my first dumb mistake, I'm doing everything else correctly. I've gone back to both Tipt and Vxed at least 8 times, putting the components into the container in different orders, but have had the same result.

Has anyone had a similar experience? What do I need to do? Please, please, please, don't tell me I'll have to to the Tipt section over again.

Hope this helps anyone having a problem. Back to where you started this ungodly quest ;)