Here is what I have done in the past. I have not tried one of the newer boxes but have had great success with previous generation units. I used the IOGEAR USB-232 adapter. It also required a null modem adapter. The settings are 9600, 8, None, and 1. The power on command is FA A5 00 01 C5. Make sure you you plug the adapter in and then press the red reset button on the front to cycle the unit and it then should recognize it. Also make sure you have the correct port set in whatever program you are using and that you have it in the right ASCII versus HEX mode if that is required.