RailMaster 1.62 eLink Connectivity

[Bert85]

I've just upgraded to version 1.62 of railmaster via the little popup on startup and now I am unable to connect to either of my elinks. I run 1 x for locos and 1 x for accessories which after reverting back to Windows 8.1 were working perfectly under 1.61. It advised me to disconnect the USB wait 5 seconds then try again. I have done this 20 times and still having issues.

Any ideas why my elink is not communicating with the software now? Obviously can't revert back to 1.61 as i have no setup files for it.

[WilliamDavid]

Have you checked that the port shown on the computer's Device Manager is the same as that on the System Settings on the railmaster screen?

[paul_harness]

 Same problems here; once the 1.62 upgrade happened, then railmaster tried to upgrade the elink to version 1.07. I then got the message it had failed and I should read the guide about upgrading the elink manually. Can't find it on any of the pages in the guide referring to elink or firmware. Now stuck with a recurring message to reconnect a faulty usb cable.

Why oh why can't we have the option to stop upgrades; every one seems to cause hassle.

[paul_harness]

Silly me to think that the description of how to upgrade the elink firmware would be on a page mentioned in the index. In fact it's on a totally different page.

I have now done the manual firmware upgrade, which is supposedly complete. STILL getting the same messages and the trobleshooting guide refers me to degaussing, using a good quality cable etc. all of which I'm fully aware of.

Fed up.

[St1ngr4y]

I've just upgraded to version 1.62 of railmaster via the little popup on startup and now I am unable to connect to either of my elinks. I run 1 x for locos and 1 x for accessories which after reverting back to Windows 8.1 were working perfectly under 1.61. It advised me to disconnect the USB wait 5 seconds then try again. I have done this 20 times and still having issues.

Any ideas why my elink is not communicating with the software now? Obviously can't revert back to 1.61 as i have no setup files for it.

Hi,

You may have the setup file for 1.61 but haven't realised. I use Google Chrome as my browser, and when it downloads the setup file, it puts it into a folder called Downloads. If there is a setup file of the same name already there, instead of overwriting it, it changes the name slightly by adding a number in brackets e.g. rm_setup (12).exe.

I can't remember whether Internet Explorer does this, but if it does then you may have a series of files like this in your Downloads folder. If you can see a list of them, then hover your mouse cursor over each one and it should display the version of that file, as well as the date it was created.

Ray

[GWR Greg]

Go to Railmaster file and find "elink107" application file. Click to open and you can manually load the elink firmware update.

Go to" ? help" at top of Railmaster window and open. Look for cog icon bottom left corner. Click and open ini file. Check you have an entry "Alternative comms=1". If not add it and close. Close Railmaster and then reopen.

[Bert85]

Thanks for the info guys. Railmaster support connected to my PC and got 1.62 working with no issues. The problem was that one of my e-links was running on COM5, which isn't recommended due to the way Windows handles anything 5 or above. They reset to COM2 and now locos and accessories working in the correct manner.

 

@paul_harness you need to ensure the Device Manager baud rate & railmaster baud rate are exactly the same. Never thought of changing the device manager settings before as it sort of worked out the box. If in doubt contact Rail Master support and they will give you the assitance to get the device running again.

[paul_harness]

Latest; just tried to revert to elink version 1.06, but of course as soon as railmaster starts it automatically tries 1.07 with no way of stopping it and round the circle goes once again.

[paul_harness]

 Go on, Bert85, how do you change the device manager baud rate? Seems a bit in depth for something that communicated fine til 1.62 stuck its oar in.

Since previous comment, also tried elite instead of elink (and changed railmaster baud rate); still the same problem of railmaster losing link to dcc controller a.

[paul_harness]

 Well, I've just used both GWR Greg's alternative comms and managed to track down changing the com4 port baud rate in device manager to match railmaster's settings using Bert85's suggestion and between them the elink is now working. Don't know which one it was that worked, but thanks both of you.

No thanks, as always, to Railmaster support. Hornby customer care have yet to repond.

[Fishmanoz]

Paul, good to see you have it going and the clue was to read some of things on here people have found to work, in this thread for a start, but there is a lot more in other recent RM forum threads, particularly those with elink and Windows 10 in the title.

 

Just a couple of those points for future reference for you:  even when HCC get back to you (they will), they may be of little help on this, you are much better going to RM Support from the email within the Help window of RM (see particularly what Bert says above).  And you will find reference elsewhere to the automatic download of RM being slightly different to the one at the link at the top of the RM forum, even though the version and revision say they are the same, so you might try updating by downloading from the link.

[Gearoid]

 Thanks for that post GWR Greg, worked a treat :)

[mal]

 Hi   read with interest all the issues with ELink but little about Elite.  It seems RM is designed more for Elink use.  However as an elite user I now have windows 10 on my laptop and just updated railmaster to  1.62.    Apart from the elite icon stays greyed out so confuses you initially that not connected when 95% of time is linked or links at second attempt.    Voice control works at about 98% efficiency although seem to get more windows commands popping up on their own than before.

Not sure why Elite icon is staying greyed out although I am sure I have seen somewhere in the forum  (getting a bit confused now as to what is in what heading) that I am not alone with this happening.   I would think that rectifying elink problems deserves more priority and because the elite hardware is not totally comaptible with some things in Railmaster  e,g   you cannot reset a short by voice and have to use the elite itself.

But overall I am functioning great.

 

Malcolm

 

[Fishmanoz]

Mal, very difficult to contend that RM was designed for eLink given it was around for years before eLink was invented.  While they perform the same function, that being an interface between RM and your track, in detail they do it differently with different hardware and firmware, and eLink pushes RM harder due to the higher baud rate at which it is operating.

 

Greyed out controller icon is telling you the Comms between it and RM are not working properly even if they appear to be.  It is a fault, not just a largely irrelevant annoyance.  Have you downloaded the very latest version of 1.62 from the forum link recently?  Try that and if still greyed out, email HRMS from within the Help window of RM.

[mal]

 fishmanoz    thanks very much  - Yes I have downloaded the latest 1.62  (although I read someone has had another one) I appreciate the time difference and what I was really saying is that the elite is obviously old hardware whilst the elink is new and therefore seems to be  (ignoring current issues) more comfortable with railmaster.  Whilst I love controlling layout by computer and with voice as well I would be lost without the elite and selects that I also have.    The current situation of people being without anyway of working the layout because they just have the elink is no good you definitelty need at least one manual controller to overcome the withdrawal symptoms.     I think the greying out relates to the driver situation with windows 10 loading its own driver and I cannot find a way of getting the file driver to be accepted by windows 10.   However having said that the greyed out icon has not seen any issues in relation to operation once link established.   Thanks for taking the time to respond.  Malcolm   ps   perhaps Hornby need to look at the Elite and bring it upto date either by new firmware or a totally new controller but I rather fancy they they have their eggs in the elink basket.

[JungleRepairer]

Same problem with e-Link upgrade to 1.07, so did it manually. However Railmaster upgrade to 1.62 still caused lost link to USB, despite setting COM ports to lower than 5 and altering the baud rates!! So went back into the backup for my computer (can't be without a FULL backup for the computer!) copied back Railmaster.exe and a couple of other associated files and "bingo" it works properly. I use Easeus Free Backup 5.6 and it works well with Windows - all forms. Only annoyance is popup to upgrade Railmaster to 1.62!

Have sent query to Railmaster support re glitch in upgrade?

[geochoice]

Hi Folks.

I have just had RM updated automatically and find like others it refuses to communicate with DCC Controller unplug USB etc etc done that no difference, I have changed the COM number which used to be 5 and worked fine and tried just about every number but no avail.

As some of you will know I am compete PC illiterate and need hand held to sort this in idiot proof lingo.

Even accessing files is not really easy for me.

 

I refuse to upgrade to Windows 10 so am on 8:1 I believe. This worked fine until recently and I have been working on my layout and schematic. I have just connected to the elink and it refuses to communicate as stated above. There is a date in the RM Properties of 27 September 2015 at 21.03.56 which is when I presume it updated itself. 

 

I would really appreciate any help form you guys or do I have to get onto RM Help?

 

Thanks, George

[geochoice]

Not sure what is happening now, I have stopped getting the cannot communicate message but all appears to load and the message setting oints appears but there is no clicking of points as they set??? I do have some new points on the schematic without number allocated would that be an issue and yes I have the set points box ticked. The Com3 port in system settings is selected which seems to have stopped the disconnect usb message but the points do not operate when starting up or manually selected on schematic, no clicks.

[mallone]

Hi geo........what make decoder so are you using?.If yours need a power supply to work maybe you have a dis in the power supply.

[Augustus Caesar]

Just as a note to all who still use COM ports above 4 for their eLink hardware. This should not be done. You should always use 4 or below if available. Do not keep changing ports (i.e. moving the connection from one socket to another without expecting RM to lose its connection at some point while it searches the ports to regain that connection).

 

If any of you are having problems with ports, baud rates etc please refer to my locked thread at the head of this sub forum (RailMaster Help Site) and also the second link (RailMaster: Setting Up and Getting Started) for additional help if required elsewhere.

 

The first link contains a very comprehensive set of instructions which will not fail unless your system is at fault with software not compatible with RM etc. Using these links is intended to save repeated questions and comments re the loading, setting up and use of RM with the eLink hardware etc.

 

@geochoice

You say you have changed the COM port from 5 to 3 but did you change it in both RM AND within Device Manager? Check the site to see if what you are doing are the correct steps. Just look for the areas for ports and baud rates. While you may have already done this it is worth even a double check to see if things are staying put so to speak in terms of your settings.

[geochoice]

Hi, Tawcroft decoders I believe, all worked fine until today, all illuminated as they should with green light. I use RM just for point control and everything has worked fine until now. I read something about double firing has been changed in latest update but why would that affect all my points. The only thing that springs to mind is that some of the newly placed points not allocated dcc numbers as yet may not have a firing order. Should I delete the new ones and add one at a time while I sort what the code is for each? Thanks.

[geochoice]

Going into Device Manager boldly where I dare not go, I see under Other Devices three items each with a yellow exclamation mark, they are Base System Device twice and Coprocessor is this what is throwing things? Not sure where ports and baud rates are lurking as not visible form the menu. Augustus any help please? You know this is well out of my comfort zone :-) George

[Fishmanoz]

Geo, just checking that you have been back to page 1 of this thread where Greg in particular describes what worked in his setup.

 

Then if you want to know more about Device Manager, I think you'll find it in AC's separate site which you can link to from the top locked thread.  However, that will only cover drivers and baud rates relevant to RM, not the other areas that don't appear to be working on your computer.  I suggest you try googling them and see if you can find anything relevant.  There are no great mysteries in Device Manager though and you are unlikely to cause any great problems playing in there.

[geochoice]

Thanks Fishy. I have been through this thread and followed AC's site and also Greg's piece. I wondered if the new addition of point controls on the schematic are the problem now, I will delete them later and check if that works. There seems to be two issues with my RM, the first definately caused by 1:62 and the COM port which I think I have dealt with now, the second is point firing on start up which although ticked and appears to go through the sequence setting albeit very quickly compared to previously and also the lack of actual audible firing also as previously.I will check the firing numbers later. Any help is appreciated thanks.

[96RAF]

It sounds to me geo that RM is doing its thing on screen, but nothing is happening on track because the eLink isn't connecting.

Will it control locos? If not it won't control points either.

That's the advantage of an Elite you can check to see if it works directly, as well as from within RM to aid trouble shooting.

 

Those yellow marked items in Dev Mgr - you can right click on them and say uninstall and Dev Mgr will search for them again and try to reinstate correctly.

 

To view the baud rates etc, in Dev Mgr right click on the com port your Hornby kit is using and select properties. On the tabs provided you will see and be able to change various values per AC's advice.