Short Circuits on 1.62

[ColinE]

Hi all,  I downloaded 1.62 three days ago and have been testing it extensively since then (an excuse for playing not building !!!) and found all is well except with short circuits. Previously if a point was set the wrong way and a short occurred a dialogue box popped up telling me to clear the short and click on the green tick to continue running, it always worked. I've had two short circuits today, both times no dialogue box appeared, I cleared the short but trains wouldn't resume operation. I had to shut down both RM and the e-link and reboot both to restart operations. Just shutting down and rebooting RM didn't clear the problem. Has anyone else had this problem?

[GWR Greg]

Now you mention it it explains a situation where I thought a short had occurred but no pop up dialogue box appeared. Had to reboot RM and elink to get things running again. Looks like something HRMS need to look at.

[Yelrow]

Not that i know what i am talking about, no change there, but Ray mentined that only one pulse is now being sent to points, as opposed to 2 before. If you think its relevant, read his post on new update. i also dont have Dialogue box, only know by Elite, but clearing that, clears RM. No need to reboot, in my case.

[michael_smith1]

Hi I'm new to the forum, I've also had this issue since upgrading to 1.62. I reported it on Friday(11/9) via Railmaster Help Request screen, awaiting response.

[Nick_]

Single pulse to points was a deliberate change. If you still need 2 pulses add Double Pulse = 1 to RailMaster.ini file. If you are using Hornby Accessory Decoders the double pulse was no use because the CDU takes about 2 secs to recharge, so if the points didn't switch on the first pulse they weren't going to switch on the second pulse and it only delayed the time until you could set the next point..

I think I've seen the short circuit lack of dialog issue too now you mention it.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

To make a minor correction to the last posting, setting Double pulse=1 does indeed have an affect when using Hornby R8247 accessory decoders.  These decoders have more charge than is needed ot fire a single point and so a double-pulse will have the effect of firing the point twice.  They also recharge pretty quickly.

[PJ_model_trains]

Hi all,  I downloaded 1.62 three days ago and have been testing it extensively since then (an excuse for playing not building !!!) and found all is well except with short circuits. Previously if a point was set the wrong way and a short occurred a dialogue box popped up telling me to clear the short and click on the green tick to continue running, it always worked. I've had two short circuits today, both times no dialogue box appeared, I cleared the short but trains wouldn't resume operation. I had to shut down both RM and the e-link and reboot both to restart operations. Just shutting down and rebooting RM didn't clear the problem. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

I am getting the same problem, when a short occurs everything goes off, power to track, signals, everything. 

 

After correcting the issue I find I have to close RM down to restart and also end up restarting the computer.

 

Very frustrating.

 

I then get problems loading RM, an error message says... RM cannot communicate with your DCC controller, Unplug USB cable from DCC controller wait 5 seconds, plug back in and try again.

 

I try numerous times eventually clicking on the grey control wheel. A pop up box states Can't open DCC controller on port COM4. I check the PC Control Panel I find COM 4 is correct.

 

Strangely enough I find the slow loading of RM, when software is starting, it seems to be searching the com port. I wonder if this is linked to the slowness John has mentioned? 

 

I will keep testing but not much more tonight I don't think.

 

[Nick_]

HRMS, my comment was made from experience on my layout. I have 4 x R8247 And a mixture of hornby points and Peco points. Hornby points use hornby surface mount motors and peco  points use peco surface mount point motors. With the interval set to the default of 0.75 secs or even increased to 1 sec, I have found that if the peco point didn't switch with the first pulse it never switched with the second. With the hornby points I can't say because I've never noticed one not switch on the first pulse. To effect reliable switching on startup I had to set the switching order to 1, 5, 9, 13, 2, and so on to give enough time for the CDU to recharge ( made easy by the Pro pack, thank you). My experience is that the CDU takes nearly 2 secs to fully recharge. Now with 1.62 and only one pulse I have set the interval to 0.6 secs , which speeds up startup and works fine. Nick

[michael_smith1]

HRMS logged onto my Laptop and fixed the short circuits and it now display short circuit message.

Unsure what they did, wouldn't give me any info, just that it working. 

[ColinE]

You're lucky Michael that it worked for you. I downloaded the latest link RM support sent me and the short circuit message still fails to appear. It's strange that on one system it works and another it does. What operating system are you using, I'm running mine on an old Vista laptop.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

Would those of you who have experienced no message notifying you of a short circuit within RailMaster please download and install the RailMaster setup from www.powerpos.com/rail-master/rm_setup.exe.

 

When you have done that ensure that you do NOT have a line in your RailMaster.ini file which says "Check controller=0".  It should either not be present or say "Check controller=1".

[ColinE]

Just to thank RM, after several e-mails my short circuit message problem has been solved. It's very reassuring to know that even with all that's going on because of Windows 10 they can still allocate time to individuals. 

[mallone]

Hi...I am also having the short circuit problem after loading Windows10 again. I have done as HRMS suggested above and now have "Check controller=1 but to no avail. I am still not getting the "short circuit" box and have to reset Railmaster from the start.

Thanks for dealing with so many technical queries from members and I know you are extremely busy but have you any more clears for this problem......Thanks.

[GWR Greg]

Colin, Have you any idea how HRMS solved the short circuit issue?

[Gearoid]

Hi folks,

I too downloaded 1.62. I'm running RM on windows Vista. Getting lots and lots of short circuit messages and now getting handshake failures messages. Really disappointed that Hornby can cause so much mayhem with a simple upgrade.

[mallone]

  .

[mallone]

I don't think we can blame Hornby for this, everything was fine until MS bought out windows10. Maybe we were all too quick to try W10. After two attempts at using W10 I am now reverting back to W7 once again until HMRS have had the time to get things perfect again.

 

[Fishmanoz]

For everyone who still has the problem, you need to email HRMS from within the Help window of RM to tell them this so they can find the solution for you.

[ColinE]

Colin, Have you any idea how HRMS solved the short circuit issue?

Hi Greg, I am running on Vista not Windows 10. In my case I had to download the latest update from powerpos and enter two lines into RailMaster.ini file - 'Check controller=1' and 'Alternative comms=1'. I was instructed to reboot RM for the changes to take effect and it worked, back to full operation.

[Cowplain]

I have persevered with Win 10 and downloaded the 1.62 beta version(s) provided by HRMS and found that the system was running very well. However, I must say that I did not experience any short circuits whilst running this version. Once 1.62 was released "formally" I downloaded it all was well until I experienced a short circuit. Then, as I have read from others I had no screen indications of a short and had to power down everything, ELink and laptop.

Once restarting everything I found the system worked well until a short occured. I then followed the HRMS directions to set the line Check Controller=1, but there was no change. I then decided to download 1.62 again, checked the Railmaster.ini file and found that the Check Controller and Alternative Comms line were already set to =1. On rerunning the package and used one of my"dodgy" locos to create a short. I have never been so plesaed to see the screen message informing me of a short and to tick the box once cleared. All now appears to work as before Win 10.

Well done and thanks HRMS.

[96RAF]

I'm still on Win 8.1 but with RM on Rev0 (help cog version) of v1.62. My .ini file does not have the associated Controller line in it at all, but it does have the Alt Comms=1.

When I induce a short (coin test) my Elite throws up Error on its screen but no similar flag from RM.

I press the small red box on the big red button to reset the controllers (Elite - A, eLink - B) but the Elite Error remains on its screen requiring an ESC button press to clear it.

I can see why this would be a problem if only using eLink as Controller - A. 

 

[mallone]

Reverted back to windows7 for a second time but now that I have v1.62 installed I am still having short circuit and usb recognition problems.

I am now going to deregister railmaster and delete all folders and files, reload windows10 again and download and reregister railmaster......watch this space!

[AncientMariner]

Would those of you who have experienced no message notifying you of a short circuit within RailMaster please download and install the RailMaster setup from www.powerpos.com/rail-master/rm_setup.exe.

When you have done that ensure that you do NOT have a line in your RailMaster.ini file which says "Check controller=0".  It should either not be present or say "Check controller=1".

Hmmm. Using ver1.62, XP, and an Elite, I had this problem. I made the basic mistake of installing 1.62 at the same time as replacing my eLink by an Elite. I thought that this problem was a feature of the Elite rather than a bug in RM. Perhaps not - so I re-downloaded and installed as per these instructions. I noted that I had the line "Check controller=0" in my ini file, so I changed it to "Check controller=1". Insanity prevailed - RM initialised, linked to the Elite correctly, set the points/signals, then displayed the "short circuit" tile repeatedly depite the Elite showing no error. I restarted the PC and removed  "Check controller=1" from the ini file. RM now reverted to not displaying the "short circuit" tile, but now runs. I would say: "close but no coconut". I have now reverted the ini file to "Check controller=0". 

Oh, and by the way - there's no small red button inside the big red button to reset the Elite here so I have to do that on the Elite.

AM

[Fishmanoz]

So AM, have you emailed HRMS from within the Help window of RM to tell them their latest fix on this doesn't appear to be working for you?

[GWR Greg]

I still have the issue of no short circuit notification window despite the very best efforts of HRMS to sort this out. I also have an issue with RM not connecting to the internet again despite hard work by HRMS. My local computer expert is convinced that they are both symptons of W10 incompatability. To be more precise W10 and firmware/software specific to my Packard Bell notebook. He recommends waiting until W10 eventually is sorted and hopefully normal service will be resumed.  I can work round both issues by 1) using red reset dcc controller button and 2) manually downloading RM updates so I will wait and see what happens over the coming weeks/months!!