Not connecting to Elite

[pete007]

Hi Guys,

Everything was working fine and then I did the update.  Now I get a box saying it can not connect to controller it could be the USB Cable or maybe a short circuit. When I click on the tick for it to try and connect I am able to use railmaster for about 10 seconds and it all stops working when the box returns on the screen to tell me it can not connect.  I have emailed Hornby but still waiting for a reply.  

Has anyone had a simular problem and found a solution to it?

Cheers

Peter

[AncientMariner]

Yes and sort of. Try changing your .ini file to Check controller= 0 and Alternative comms=0. You may get 2 warnings that the .ini file has incorrect values - Alternative comms should be 0 or 1! (That bit seems to be broken here). Click on the tick to continue loading. That fixes to connection problem here, but the USB Cable or maybe a short circuit window will not display when it should. So it's not fixed - just broken in a different way.

Change your .ini file either by clicking on the cog symbol in the help/about window accessed via the ? symbol in the RM main window, or in any suitable editor e.g. notepad.

 

AM

[Fishmanoz]

Hi Pete, we now have many threads on here addressing pretty much the same issue - failure to connect to the controller from v1.62 and usually Windows 10 - they usually have 1.62 or Windows in their title.  Most now also show the solution.  This is to first make sure you have the "latest" version of 1.62 (yes, there is more then one, even at Revision 0), then ensure those 2 lines AM mentions above are in your .ini file.  You do this by clicking on the cog wheel in the Help window of RM.  For almost everyone, it then works.  So to ensure this, download and update again from the link at the top of the RM forum.

 

Also on contacting Hornby, I trust you have not contacted Hornby Customer Care (HCC), rather contacted HRMS from the email in the Help window of RM.

[96RAF]

Going back to the OP:

Installing a software update will not invoke a hardware fault, so the pop-up about maybe a short circuit or a duff USB cable is complete cobblers - IMHO.

 

If it was connecting fine before the update but not after then the answer is that the update introduced the fault.

 

This has been proven by the fact people have had to amend their ini files then all was well. Why that amendment couldn't have been part of the update I leave for HRMS to explain.

 

Of interest when I was in UK recently I updated my daughters pc to Win 10 from Win 8.1 and loaded the RM demo version to see if it would work with the latest Elite firmware update I had just installed. Running layouts in 2 countries means I have to have Elites pre-positioned to save lugging kit back and forth so they get updates as and when.

 

RM demo showed the connect/disconnect pattern mentioned above, but as I wasn't going to use RM on that pc I put it to the back of my mind for when I updated my pc in Cyprus to Win 10 - which has yet to happen given the on-going problems.

[Yelrow]

This of course is why i am staying with original 1.62. I dont think we should have to mess about with the INI files. Surely HRMS, should produce an update that does not require all this. john

[geochoice]

I had issues connecting after an update recently, as suggested by some on here I checked the ini files via the grey cog wheel and added the missing Alternative Comms file =1 and also checking that the elink port was the same as the LptComm port on the laptop, elink port was changed by the update which then kept giving me a usb fault reading.

 

all corrected easily by a very illiterate pc user - me.

 

 

[RDS]

... working fine and then I did the update ...

Pete, it would help us if you said which update you were trying to do.

[96RAF]

@Geo

I think you have given us a fine steer as to the latent problem behind any 'USB cable - can't connect' fault introduced by yet another 'out-of-configuration-control - (IMHO)' RM update, in that it is the update itself that has fiddled with comm port settings and as you say - 'I fixed it and it was fixed'.

 

I have had the odd non-user induced problems in RM that I have reported in and have yet to receive a satisfactory answer - e.g. why do my loco pictures keep changing. Why do my TTS functions not show in the expanded throttle when they are correctly listed in loco settings -??.

 

Maybe others would like to list any 'odd' problems they have seen in RM.

[RDS]

... working fine and then I did the update ...

 

[geochoice]

Thanks RAF, I hope that my piece helps, just being non technical it helps sometimes to have simple easy instructions which is what helped me sort the issue. It is easy to forget that some of us are pc ignorant and like me frightened to delve to correct things. The members support is invaluable and encouraging, it does not really help to repeat it is in the Manual because even if it is sometimes it is in obscure places and techyy talk. There are none so blind as me that cannot see some of the Manual instruction relevant.

[Fishmanoz]

John, just looking at your "not messing with the ini file", it is worth briefly looking at how programs work and some ini file history.

 

When you first launch any program, one of the first things it does is to initialise a whole range of variables.  In this regard, RM is more complex than some because it doesn't just have to get itself going, but it also has to deal with things in the outside world, starting with either eLink or Elite connected to a comm port with the port number changing according to what else is connected to the computer.  So in RM, initialisation falls into one of 3 categories:

 

-  RM does it itself without asking or telling you (sometimes it leaves a record in the log.txt file)

-  you set it to meet your configuration in the Setup window, and comm port is an obvious example

-  it is set in the ini file

 

So when HRMS originally developed the program, they made a judgement call on where and how variables were set.  In particular, the things that had to be defined by the user went in the Setup window, and things that might need adjustment by the user went in the ini file.  In fact, if you were to go back a couple of years, you'd find hardly any references to changing the ini file, points timing was probably the first to appear, you only found reference to the Setup window.

 

However, as things have become more complicated in later versions, more things have needed setting.  HRMS has put a few of these into the setup window, but more lately some have gone into the ini file.  As you know, in the Desirable Features thread, Ray has given an eloquent argument for changing this and putting a lot more in the Setup window and a lot less in the ini file.  But HRMS have rejected this for now, and I suspect it is because they have run out of real estate in the Setup screens and would have to make significant changes to Setup to initialise more things here.  Also, HRMS has facilitated your changing the ini file via the cog wheel in the Help window, making it much easier than it was previously.

 

So under these circumstances, it makes little sense to say you don't want to mess with the ini file as it is now essential for many to do so, particularly concerning those 2 extra lines now needed.  Changing the ini file is now an essential part of ensuring you have RM properly configured and working bug free with all of the latest features.

 

PS.  Some have asked why RM doesn't add those 2 lines as part of the latest update. The answer is simple, updates don't change the ini file at all, they leave you with the particular configurations you have put there so that things you have set don't get changed without your knowledge.  Only if the file is missing does the update include the latest default ini file.

[Yelrow]

Fishy, hi, thats all very illuminating, and sensible, for those of us who wish to mess about with things. Me, and i suspect, several others, just want to run trains.  You can go deeply into windows, if you are so  inspired, change settings, alter  lord knows what, and get in a real mess. Or you can use it, as was intended by microsoft, ignore Bios, and other tempting cavities..  HRMS, in there confused wisdom, have made  looking at the ini file , essential. Not for me. I did not buy RM, to start, digging deeply into its files. I bought it to design, programme locos, and run trains. Thats how it was promoted, advertised, and sold. Nothing about being  essential that you fully understood its file system. If they continue down this road, i belive, people will be switched off. Just produce an update that is plug and play. EG, we simply download it, and it works.  One of the beauties of  Hornby control systems, is the simplicity to operate, as opposed to Lenz, Prodigy advance , etc. For goodness sake, lets keep it that way. At 72, i have no wish to become a computer Boffin/nerd, in fact will go to great lenghts to avoid so doing. john

[Fishmanoz]

John, I can only agree your approach is sensible.  Unfortunately it is aspirational and yet to be delivered at this point.

[geochoice]

But you have gone down the pc road John, you can't just turn round and go back, the only was is on and up. I share your reluctance to go into files but needs nust and did, now it all works well. Geo

[Yelrow]

Fishy, thank you. I think it was fully delivered before the windows 10 flap, which resulted in this INI nonsence. On another post we have a cry for help. People  buying this product, and those already owning it, are not computer Geeks, nor can they be expected to be. Why not simply issue a 1.63 update, which makes this file adjustment. Otherwise, it could be 4 lines on next update, followed by half a page, on the next, ad infinitum. We have grown to expect HRMS, to correct these little bugs by   updates, which up to now they have done superbly.   Come on guys, take back the initiative.  Issue a new 1.63, which clears all this up. john

[pete007]

Hi there,

ini files are an old method of setting variables for programs and have been replaced by the registry in Windows.

We have tried changing the ini file, updating windows and re-installing the usb drivers and recreating usbser.sys

The next step I think is to de-register the programs and re-install windows from scratch and see if installing railmaster pro from scratch will work.

I'll wait for a bit to see if 1.63 is released as I can actually use the software but if it doesn't get sorted soon I may resort to starting from scratch.  Luckily this is a pc just for railmaster.

[Fishmanoz]

Pete, no point suggesting this as we have what we have.  Anyway, registry entries are for things that the user doesn't change, because they can't in registry as a general rule, not things the user may need to change, as in the case here.

 

There's also no point expecting to see something different in v1.63.  That will come out when HRMS has new functionality for us, not to repeat something already fixed, as HRMS believe is the case for this one.

 

And just if you want to check the problem and its solution, look at my last 2 posts in the recent Help titled thread and make sure you have done all of this.  Reinstallation of W10 and RM shouldn't be necessary.  Do email HRMS if you are still having problems though.

[Augustus Caesar]

The reinstallation of any OS simply to try and sort out RM and hardware problems for the eLink and Elite is a total waste of time and energy unless you KNOW there is something wrong with your system itself. By uninstalling RM and then deleting the RM folder you do enough to make a reinstall of RM the only thing necessary to fix a broken install prior to that. You COULD enter the registry and type a search for RailMaster and delete all entries but you will also delete the file dowloaded for setup if you change the name to RailMaster. So be careful. The registry is for those like myself who know what to do in there. Registry cleaning programs are also dangerous and should be used with caution. They can do more harm than good... please do not come back to me and say yours works fine! :-)

 

Ini files are old but then again I believe that Visual Basic is used to write RailMaster and that is old now compared to some more of the modern structured programs used for this kind of purpose. Anyway, that's besides the point. Setup files will only contain data that is required to setup and start the program when the user clicks for that operation. Ini files contain all kinds of stuff but mostly, as Fishy says, variables to get the innards going with certain settings that simply cannot be placed in the setup file at all. It acts like a mini database and is referenced by the program in order to set user settings or, mostly, settings that are usually not changeable, or recognised IF user changed, by the program once operational.

 

The ini file is a simple way for the team building RM to add data that is constanltly being required as the program grows. It is far easier to add a line or two of data to this kind of file at this moment rather than write a graphical window that would need writing and programming, graphically and textually, every time a new piece of data is built in.

 

Eventually, when the program settles to nearer its full capabilities a graphical interface will be built in with user settings changeable via a mouse click and tick boxes for example. But that's a way off for now. By not adding this yet the team are left to work on adding routines to make the software better and bigger.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

To reiterate what AugustusCaesar has said, there is no need to reinstall an operating system to get RailMaster working unless you KNOW that your operating system is unstable (i.e. it doesn't work in other areas).

 

RailMaster is stable and works, HOWEVER, you need to ensure it has been set up correctly.

 

Your starting point should be to ensure you always have the latest version of the software installed by downloading from www.powerpos.com/rail-master/rm_setup.exe, even if you did it the previous day.  This is important.  Not only will this ensure the latest version is installed but will also reinstall any possibly corrupted components.  99 times out of 100 there is also no need at all to uninstall and delete RailMaster from your system as the latest version installation will negate this.

 

We can confidentally say that 99.99% of the time, if RailMaster does not work it is because of incorrect settings or antivirus/firewall software interfering with it.  The latter makes up the majority of cases.  Where there is a communications issue it is usually down to incorrect comms settings, so to summarise:-

 

1.  Ensure that your Windows Device Manager has set a port to below five (i.e. 1 to 4) for your DCC controller.  The entry is called "USB Serial Port" under the LPT and Com heading.  You can force Windows Device Manager to change the port to a lower port if it has set one above four.

 

2. Ensure that the BAUD rate in Windows Device Manager is set to 19200 for the Elite and 115200 for the eLink controller.

 

3. Ensure RailMaster's Settings use the same com port for your controller as is set in Windows Device Manager and also ensure the BAUD rate is set to match.

 

4. Edit the RailMaster.ini file (small cog in the Help/About screen) to ensure the lines "Alternative comms=1" and "Check controller=1" are present.  Add them, if not and save the file then restart RailMaster.

 

5.  In VERY RARE cases the USB Serial Port driver in Windows Device Manager can be incorrect or faulty.  AFTER you have done all of the above, if it still doesn't work, go back into the Windows Device Manager and uninstall the USB Serial Port driver entry by right clicking on it, you MUST also click the checkbox to delete the driver.  Then unplug your DCC controller, plug it back in after five seconds and allow Windows to download a fresh driver.  NOTE: if Windows has set a Com port about four, force it to a free port below five as in step 1 above and go through the remaining items on the list.

 

We have NEVER seen a scenario where checking the above has not worked and this does not involve any uninstallation or deletion of RailMaster or reinstallation of the operating system.  You just need to ensure that you have done everything on the list correctly.  Just leaving out one small detail will cause it to fail.

[AncientMariner]

HRMS

 

I must take issue with you on this one. The produre detailed above does not fix the problem as outlined at the beginning of this thread. As I reported on the built-in help system ver 1.62  non-cog revision (I would have used a rev. number, but that seems to have fallen by the wayside) did not display the "short circuit window" when required by my Elite. Following your advice at the time I downloaded the then latest ver of 1.62 (with cog) and amended my .ini file. This resulted in the repeated display of the "short circuit window" and disconnection as described at the beginning of this thread. I then amended my .ini file to read "Controller check=0" and "Alternative comms =0". This fixed the repeated display of the "short circuit window", but did not fix the original bug. In addition RM now throws 2 spurious error messages about "Alternative comms" in the .ini file. Following a discussion with you on Teamviewer, I formed the impression that "this problem is known about, and a fix is on the way". Reading the post above I'm now not certain that this is the case.

 

 I have held off reporting other bugs in 1.62 pending an update.

 

AM

[96RAF]

There seems to be some confusion as to whether it should be 0 or 1 for these 2 additional lines in the ini file. Maybe HRMS could please post an explanation of the difference.

[Chrissaf]

I agree with RAF, a more in-depth description from HRMS of the use of these additional .INI lines would help greatly.

.

I may be wrong, but my interpretation was that they were only needed in the .INI file for eLink users and not needed for Elite users. I use the with 'COG' 1.62 version. I do not have these two additional .INI lines added. My Elite works absolutely fine without issue, but that may be more to me still being on Win 8.1.

[AncientMariner]

Chris,

 

Are you sure that your Elite works absolutely fine? Does RM display a "short circuit window" when your Elite is in a short circuit condition? If you twiddle the throttle knobs on your Elite do the throttle sliders in both large loco control windows move in syncrony?

 

And, if you feel really brave perhaps you could amend your .ini file with the new lines as detailed by HRMS above and tell us what happens?

 

Oh, and btw, HRMS told me that the operating system should make no difference .... hmmm .

 

AM 

[96RAF]

Running Win 8.1, Elite v1.4.latest, RM v1.62 Rev).cog.today's-download and it all works fine with RM Pro-Pack apart from the short circuit bit.

I see no pop-up on RM and the Elite needs to be ESC'd to square the Error away and restore power to the track.

 

Tell me if I am doing something wrong AM...

[AncientMariner]

RAF96,

 

I originally assumed that the non-display of the "short circuit window" was a feature of the RM/Elite setup not a bug. As I understand it from HRMS the short circuit window should be displayed on RM when required by the Elite, but the Elite doesn't respond to  a remote reset and so has to be ESC'd to reset after an error. 

 

Do both your large loco control windows reflect the movement of the Elite control knobs? Here, the first one to be opened responds correcly, but the second does not.

 

AFAIKS you are seeing at least one of the same bugs as I am, but it would be interesting to hear of any results you get by amending your .ini file to "Controller check=1" and "Alternative comms=1". I wouldn't be suprised to learn that you then see the same problem as described by Peter.

 

AM