Hi Paul, I had trouble with easily-found USB-to-Serial interface
cables from Circuit City and BestBuy, trying to connect from a PC
laptop to my Volkslogger (a finicky piece of equipment), using
StrePla. One problem was Microsoft ActiveSynch, which does funny
things (I'm a techno-bozo and that's as good as the description
gets). If I disabled ActiveSynch, things generally went better (and
better yet when I was trying to load my IPAQ 3955 with Pocket StrePla,
but that's another thread).

The best serial adapter I've used is found at
http://www.pfranc.com/cgi-bin/P/USB_...min-GPS-cables ; they also
make a bunch of different Garmin plugs for cabling. They have worked
for me, and several friends. I recommend them - I have no financial
interest (I'd like them to be around for a long time). They make 4
inch and 6 foot ones (handy to put laptop on wing if downloading from
the glider). On one laptop, I had to re-install drivers (available
from the same site at http://www.pfranc.com/usb/usb.shtml#drivers)
before it worked.

You might want to search on your drivers, and update them - outside
chance it'd work. You might want to become a Pfranc too!

Dan