Trouble Shooting Serial Ports

Here is a trick I learned recently to check your Serial ports and or USB - Serial Converter using HyperTerminal for a loopback test. These instructions are for Win XP.
1. If you have a USB - Serial Converter, plug it in. You should check Device Manager to see if it is there first. Then proceed.
2. Go to Start - Programs - Accessories - Communications - Hyperterminal. In the box that comes up, type in a name, any name, like TEST. Click OK
3. In the Connect To window, at the bottom next to Connect Using: use the drop down menu to select the serial port you want to check - ie. COM 1 (make sure your modem is not selected) All the rest of your options on this screen will go away. Click OK
4. In the Com 1 Properties window, in the Flow Control drop down, Select NONE. Click OK.
5. You will now have a blank HyperTerminal screen. Click on File - Properties. Select the Setting Tab and at the bottom click on ASCII setup. Check the box next to Echo Typed Characters Locally. Click OK and OK again.
6. Now comes the tough part. You will need to jump pin #2 to #3 on your Male Serial Connector. The best way to do this is with a short wire with small alligator clips on each end. If you are good, you can do it with a paper clip or even a metal pen like a Cross Pen. Don't jump to any other pins! (If you look at your serial connector, there are 5 pins on top and 4 pins on the bottom, pins 1 - 5 are on the top and pins 6-9 are on the bottom. It should look like this on the top 1 2=3 4 5 Pins 2-3 jumped.
7. With this accomplished, possibly with the help of a friend, start typing on your keyboard. Anything, numbers or letters.

For every character that you type on your keyboard, you should see that character twice on the screen. This means the Serial Port and the Converter are working properly. Sending and Receiving. If you only see one character each time you type, you are only sending out information and not receiving it. If you get nothing, you are not sending.
If this works and you are not communicating with your timer or scoreboard, most likely you have not selected the proper device and need to back up and do some checking.
Click on the X to close Hyperterminal when you are done. Click YES to close the Connection and No when it asks you to save.

Not a bad suggestion, but I think I would take a spare female serial connector and wire it up with the wires to 2 & 3 crossed. A little work to make, but less risk of doing something you don't intend (like bending the pins, or crossing errant pairs). Then just through the connector in with the rest of your cabling stuff, and you don't need to remember which pins it is that you need to cross.