Cable - On the Cheap

[Empi5]

Hmmm, i took the cheap option and bought a cable of ebay without thinking too much about it, I then thought about how it would fit to my shiney new lap top, and looking at it , i have a 15 pin serial port at the back.

Am i right in thinking when this cable arrives it will only be 9 Pin or am i worrying about nothing....

 

[k11jrp]

9 pin for serial

 

[mrcoyote]

Serial ports normally only have 9 (or 25 if they're old) pins. What you're looking at is the VGA out connector not a serial port.

 

[GreyKnight]

I have no idea since I don't know what cable you bought or what you intend to use it for Never heard of a 15 pin serial port either. They're either 9 pin or 25 pin as far as I'm aware...

edit: must type faster

p.s. VGA out connectors are 9 pin too, but they are a female connection, unlike a serial port which is male.

 

[cordobabrendy]

Serial ports normally only have 9 (or 25 if they're old) pins. What you're looking at is the VGA out connector not a serial port.

yup, big D'oh! for empi5.
if you dont have a serial com port then bung it on here and get your money back on the accessories for sale, they will sell ok.

 

[Empi5]

Ok then, I have no serial port so it has answered my own question, Phaps i shouldnt be so saffy and buy the real deal.

 

[GreyKnight]

Most modern laptops don't have serial ports or parallel ports on them any more, it's a real pain in my line of work where the industrial printers we sell are largely still manufactured with parallel ports. You have to buy a port replicator to get these ports

What are you actually trying to do Empi5?

 

[Empi5]

Well as you can gather im no computer expert I just want to be able to download and use the free version of VAG-Com so i can just check and clear error faults..

 

[cordobabrendy]

my hp nc6000 has a serial port and m processor too so does me great and as its a work one its all covered should owt break!

 

[GreyKnight]

You may be able to get a PCMCIA card with a serial port on it...? Either that or a USB to serial convertor.

 

[mrcoyote]

my hp nc6000 has a serial port and m processor too so does me great and as its a work one its all covered should owt break!

If it's anything like the ones we had it definately will break...

 

[BlackFR]

p.s. VGA out connectors are 9 pin too, but they are a female connection, unlike a serial port which is male.

Not true. VGA connectors are high density 15W D Type Sockets. They have the same outline as a 9W D Type but have an extra row of pins down the middle.

 

[GreyKnight]

Ah, yes, that's right. Forgot about the extra row...

 

[cordobabrendy]

ken my laptop has been 100% bar the battery (typical hp)

 

[mrcoyote]

How long have you had it? I had mine for about 5 months and strangely that was fine, but most of the other bought were having various failures every day. Being on first name terms with the onsite engineer is not a good thing... especially when he's coming every day.

 

[cordobabrendy]

lol our company has a compaq authorised workshop in our office. these laptops have been fine though. better than the ibm thinkpad t40,41,42 and latest 43's that are dieing by the dozen on our maintenance contract customers.