radio shack usb serial cable

I have the above installed , device manager says its working properly on com 1. Ive connected it to a 1747-pic using a 25 pin to 9 pin adapter to talk to a 1747-L20C (slc 500 brick) but RS linx only sees my work station.Any help will be appreciated.

It's been about 5 years since I used a Pic box but i do not think you can us it with a USB adapter. The Pic needs to see a voltage from the RS232 port, If I remember correctly.
In a pinch I had used a docking station with a real RS232 serial port on it when my labtop did not have one.

There are many posts on the site concerning this issue. They basicly say it wont work because of timing issues. "jseavers" answer is definitely one solution, another is a computer with XP-Pro-SP2 and a real serial port. Some of the older Dell Lattitude models had a real serial port. Maybe you can find one on fleabay. There is a replacement for the PIC that uses a usb connection. Here's a link to one supplier, he's also a forum member.
Link:
http://www.ind-concepts.com/Allen_Bradley_PLC_Cables.htm

I've used the cable "jrwb4gbm" is referring to; and it works good.
1. Try turning off your computer/lap top. And with the cables already connected between the computer/ lap top and the PLC, THEN turn-ON the computer/ lap top. After complete boot-up, see if RSLinx "see's" your PLC now.
2. Also - verify you have the right "Drivers" running (in RSLinx)
3. You may have to get the cable that "jrwb4gbm" was talking about.

k-

I can confirm that the 1747-PIC/AIC+ driver and the 1747-PIC or 1761-NET-AIC hardware do not work with any general-purpose USB/RS232 converter.

The only way to access DH485 from USB is to use a dedicated-purpose interface like the 1747-UIC or the similar module from Ind-Concepts.com.