XBee+Arduino Decimila

With the jumper in Xbee position and the microcontroller on the Diecimila board, I tried but failed to communicate wirelessly with another XBee on a Sparkfun board. The situation is the same whether external power supply or USB power is used. The TX and RX lights on the board do not show up. The same XBees on SparkFun boards can communicate wirelessly with each other via USB. Is there anything I can do whether by programming or otherwise as my jumper should be in Xbee position and the microcontroller should be left on Diecimila board for my project to work. Thanks