Cannot Reference DCR from Component

System

I am working with TeamSite 7.1. I have a component with several Datums in the Content XML, including a DCR Datum:

[HTML]
Stuff
...more String Datums...

...path to DCR...


[/HTML]
When I hardcode the path to the DCR, I cannot preview the component (the preview pane just comes up blank). When I publish a page that uses this component, I see the same thing in the final result. If I do not provide a path, and provide it later when I am including the component in a page, it works fine (the component is able to pick up the values in the DCR).

Can anyone tell me what to look for?