Thanks for the diagram, I looked over all the connections and it appears to be wired correctly.

I found an old computer in my basement that has a serial port on it and tried it out without the serial to usb adapter. I'm sorry to say it still wont recognize the controller as being there.

Even though I managed to get the "ready for firmware update" text to come up on the controller I think it may just be fried beyond repair.

The cords are brand new right out of the box, and now I know for sure they are wired properly. So I think it makes sense to go back to the original problem.

Still can't believe it just fried my controller like that, thats got to be some kind of design flaw if I ever seen one.

Thank you for the help along this tedious journey I have taken. Ya'll made it easier to bear. 8)