I had a programmer that requires 1 to 1 serial cable which means all pins of each end are connected to same pins in the other end i.e:
1---1
2---2
3---3
4---4
5---5
6---6
7---7
8---8
9---9
And it refused to work with less than 8 pins, I think pin 9 didn't matter.
regards
Mahmood