I am not what the issue was but to recover I de-installed and re-instlled the MCT driver from here:
http://www.mct.com.tw/driver.html then by shorting pins 2-3 on the cable and using hyperterminal to test it let me prove the cable was ok, then I added each component step by step and tested, the 9 pin to RJ connector, the 4-6 pin RJ cable and finally autostar startup with HT running. Up popped the X and CTRL-F gave me a P - polar - bingo! Now I have to test out autoguiding...