I just purchased a Cisco 2501 from my employer. It was working at work. Here are the steps that I took to try and configure it.
Hooked up the console cable to the console port on the router. Other end of console cable has a serial converter which I plugged into PC. Opened Hypterminal. Created connection to COM1 with the following settings: Baud: 9600, Data Bits: 1, Parity: None, Stop Bit: 2. Nothing comes up on the screen. Turned the router on and off. Still nothing on the screen.
I have verified the serial port works. I even tried COM3 since it was the only other COM listed. I am guessing it is either the cable or the converter. Since this is my first attempt at configuring a router, I don't know what else I should check. I am not trying to do anything other than get into the router to look at the IOS.