ok tried every combination - still nothing -

I was looking thru my motherboard manual and found i have another serial port - so i searched thru the graveyard of old computer junk and found the serial cable. Hooked it up - plugged in the mouse and it found it - plugged in the aerofly adapter and nothing........ When you plug yours in does windows detect it right away and give you an icon on the bottom? did i miss something?