Railamster and elink not working

[alanthompson]

Hi i have railamster and elink system. I have spent 2 days trying to set it up. after finally getting it to work via following a guide from octaviancs.com it worked. feeling happy i turned off and went to bed.

i try again today and surprise surprise its back to the same old problems.

It is giving me the usual message saying that railmaster acoont find the dcc controller.

Is anyone willing to help me with this as i just cant see a way forward with it

[Howbi]

Alan...........have you followed the advice you were given yesterday?.........experienced members here have taken time and trouble to provide workable solutions which you really should take seriously and I'm sure you'll get a result......it's the second thread down in this section, Setting up and Getting started..........HB

[Chrissaf]

Alan, I can understand the frustration, but it doesn't help to post the same issue in different sections all over the forum. You could have just added the additional help requests to the end of your first original one that is still showing in the 'General Section'.

.

You say you've followed the steps on the help website, there are many, but for the issue you have described the following are the key ones. The off forum "Railmaster Help Site" is OK, but all the salient information you needed is in the thread shown below the 'Help Site' topic thread. It is this second topic thread "Railmaster: Setting Up & Getting Started", that others here have been suggesting you read and follow. What follows below is based upon content of the second thread, but hopefully written in a manner that is easier for you to follow:

.

These are the critical things you need to ensure that you have done. Please confirm that you have done these specific actions listed below:

.

Before doing anything else, click the RM download link shown at the top of the "Railmaster and Trackmaster" forum section (Note: this is the forum section where your original question would have been better posted as that forum section is monitored by Hornby's RM support staff). Download the RM installer to your Windows 10 RM PC. Right Click the downloaded file and choose 'Run as Administrator'. This will overwrite your current RM installation with the very latest version. There is no need to uninstall the previous version first.

.

Now check to ensure (and add if they are not there) that the railmaster.ini file has the following lines added.

.

Alternative comms=1

Check controller=1

.

If you have not looked at the railmaster.ini file yet. Then open the 'Help About' window (? icon in top navigation bar within RM) and look for the 'COG' icon in the bottom left hand corner of the about screen. Click this icon and the .ini file editor will open after you follow the on screen prompts.

.

If the two lines above are not present add them, if they are present but the value of either line is =0 then make them both =1

.

Save any edits and close the .INI file editor. Let us know back in this thread if they were missing or not or needed editing.

.

OK with that done. Now go to the search box in your Windows 10 start menu and type in "Device" and look for 'Device Manager' to be listed. Can't remember off the top of my head, but right clicking the Windows 10 start menu icon opens the alternative menu, in which 'Device Manager' might be shown as a listed entity.

.

Start 'Device Manager'

.

Within Device Manager go to the LPT and Com branch of the tree. Look for the com port that has been assigned to your eLink driver. It will have an entry similar to "USB Serial Port (Com 4)" if the Com number is above 5 you will need to manually force it to a number 5 or below (Com 4) is preferred. But before making any changes, review item 5) in the list further below as that may have a bearing.

.

Assuming the Com number is 5 or below, make a mental note of the number.

.

Now go back to RailMaster and open the 'System Settings' window. Large COG icon in RM top navigation row. Make sure that eLink is selected as Controller A and that the Com port number matches the one (5 or below) as shown in Device Manager.

.

With the two stated Railmaster.ini lines added to the file and the com ports matching, then it should only be necessary to start things up in this suggested order.

.

1) Power up your eLink first.

.

2) Now Boot Up the Windows 10 PC

.

3) Wait for Windows 10 to be fully loaded and complete all its start up checks and settle down. You could optionally use this idle time to check Device Manager again and make sure that USB Serial Port (Com x) is still listed and has the same assigned com port number as before. The visibility of this entry in DM shows that Windows has detected the eLink and loaded the driver. Make sure there are no errors or warning triangle associated with the DM USB port entry.

.

4) Now start RM

.

5) Always use the SAME USB port (USB2.0 not a USB3.0 one) for your eLink. If you plug your eLink into a different USB port, then a different Com port number is very likely to be allocated by Windows 10 and the new Com port number will no longer match the one being used by RM. Could this be the reason your eLink has stopped being recognised? Have you used a different USB port or a USB3.0 one?

.

If you have done everything correctly as listed above, eLink should be functional.

.

One other question?. Have you been able to enter the CD Key and 'activate' RM without any error messages?

.

As a Newbie poster, just be aware of the following:

The "Blue Box with White Arrow" icon embedded in the forum posts is NOT a 'Click this to Reply' button. It is a 'Quote' button. If you want to reply to a post, then go to the very bottom of the page and write your reply in the large empty reply text box and click the GREEN Reply button.

[Augustus Caesar]

@Alan

The guide you looked at on the octaviancs.com link is my own Help Site which is listed as, currently, the top link in this thread.

If you followed that as you say and it was working until you swithced off and went to bed etc... then there is a possible comms issue as has been stated above.

It is unlikely to be Windows related and if you follow the info above and also on my own site where the Installation link has already been used by yourself you will also note a link for Tips & Tricks. This also has the comms settings for all Windows versions, USB port settings and baud rates for you to check.

Have a look at those too because your installation should never fail with those help guides on that site.

Also, you should always use the same USB socket once everything is working and don't attach another component to that port, even temporarily, because Windows will usually not remember the original device attached. So once a port is utilised with RM use that port for NOTHING else.

If all ideas from members on here fails email HRMS or even myself and we'll see how you get on. Link available on site.

Good luck...

[Chrissaf]

Alan, an amendment to my previous reply.

.

In the paragraph directly below the line 'Start Device Manager' I should have added that the eLink needs to be plugged into the USB port that you intend to use on your Win 10 PC. If it is not plugged in, you are unlikely to find the 'USB Serial Port (Com x)' listed in DM, as the driver only loads when the eLink is connected and detected.

[Augustus Caesar]

Is that why mine doesn't work Chris? 😮

Seriously, it's a stark, but simple, error to make though... but can be done. 😎

[poliss]

What a rigmarole. 😮 My son came over for the weekend and had my DCC system up and running on his iPhone in less than five minutes, and I didn't even show him how to do it.

[RDS]

... and I didn't even show him how to do it.

 

That may be why it took him less than 5 minutes?

[poliss]

Probably. It took me 10 minutes because I've never used a tablet before. 🤐

[RB51]

That's the trouble with youth - it's wasted on the young. 😉 R-