Is it possible to use a standard RS232 serial cable with the console connection instead of the USB cable? I had a DB9 serial header which I soldered to the board with the appropriate TX/RX/GND config from the article that explains the USB cable.

At one point it was working and I could see the board going through the boot process, and the firmware I had uploaded was having an error, which causes the router to reboot.

However, CTRL+C would never drop me down to the CFE bootloader to start up TFTPD. So I tinkered with it some more, thinking maybe I had a bad solder or something keeping me from getting input sent properly, but no dice.

Now when it goes though boot I basically get garbage on the screen equivalent to where it used to give me legible data. It also used to say "Loading" then print periods to the screen to indicate progress. Instead of periods, I now get "4"'s.

By using a straight serial cable did I fry something?  Is this possible?