Oh geez I bet you are right. I didn't even think of that. I am getting the nine volts from the power supply by using the +12V and +3.3V wires. The rs-232 is expecting a true ground and my 9V is referenced to a +3.3V ground. I'm surprised I didn't fry my serial port or worse my entire mother board. I'm really new to this hobby so unfortunately I will probably make many more of these mistakes.