Has anyone here tried to use the serial port of the MSI
RS480M2-IL motherboard ? I assembled several computers
based on this mobo last year, but neither I nor,
apparently, any of my customers/clients have had reason
to use the serial port until now.
I tried to install an external dial-up modem for a friend
today, but Windows could not detect it. To make a long
story short, it turned out that the culprit was a mismatch
between the mobo serial port header and the supplied
internal cable.
The cable is wired according to the usual pin ordering
convention, but the header pins on the mobo are *not*
numbered in the usual order. AFAIK, such double-row header
pins are usually numbered like this -
2 4 6 8 ....
1 3 5 7 ....
but the serial port headers on this mobo are numbered
like this -
6 7 8 9 x
1 2 3 4 5
The numbering by itself wouldn't matter except that each
pin number serves the same function as it would in a more
conventional layout. That is -
1 - DCD
2 - S-IN
3 - S-OUT
etc etc
I can't change the pin layout on the mobo of course. I
solved the problem by desoldering the wires at the back
of the D-sub connector and resoldered them in the
required order.
If there's anyone out there who's been having problems
trying to get the serial port of this mobo working, I
hope this helps. However, it's possible that not all
production batches are shipped with this mismatched
cable.
In article <1155064225.830507.176970@n13g2000cwa.googlegroups .com>, pjdd@rediffmail.com wrote:
> Has anyone here tried to use the serial port of the MSI
> RS480M2-IL motherboard ? I assembled several computers
> based on this mobo last year, but neither I nor,
> apparently, any of my customers/clients have had reason
> to use the serial port until now.
>
> I tried to install an external dial-up modem for a friend
> today, but Windows could not detect it. To make a long
> story short, it turned out that the culprit was a mismatch
> between the mobo serial port header and the supplied
> internal cable.
>
> The cable is wired according to the usual pin ordering
> convention, but the header pins on the mobo are *not*
> numbered in the usual order. AFAIK, such double-row header
> pins are usually numbered like this -
>
> 2 4 6 8 ....
> 1 3 5 7 ....
>
> but the serial port headers on this mobo are numbered
> like this -
>
> 6 7 8 9 x
> 1 2 3 4 5
>
> The numbering by itself wouldn't matter except that each
> pin number serves the same function as it would in a more
> conventional layout. That is -
>
> 1 - DCD
> 2 - S-IN
> 3 - S-OUT
> etc etc
>
> I can't change the pin layout on the mobo of course. I
> solved the problem by desoldering the wires at the back
> of the D-sub connector and resoldered them in the
> required order.
>
> If there's anyone out there who's been having problems
> trying to get the serial port of this mobo working, I
> hope this helps. However, it's possible that not all
> production batches are shipped with this mismatched
> cable.
There are two "standards" for header to DB9 adapters.
One is DTK and the other one Intel. You didn't have
to solder a cable, as you can buy both types already
prepared.
Serial port of MSI RS480M2-IL motherboard. 
Linear Mode
