Unable to register Railmaster

[pcb]

I recently purchased Railmaster to work with Elite. I have an ACER ES15 with windows 8.1. I have succwssfully loaded Railmaster but when I try to authorise it with my Key code , I am unable to access the 'Gateway'. It has been loaded and to run as Administrator and I have even removed the McAfee software and made it an exception on Windows defender but still get the message 'unable to access Gateway. Any advice would be appreciated. Paul Bates

[Chrissaf]

Paul, welcome to the forum.

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You also need to add an exception to your PC Firewall. This may be the Windows Firewall, or it may be a replacement Firewall installed as part of McAfee. Either way, adding a firewall exception is included in the Hornby Security Guide PDF included as part of the RM installation.

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I am a little concerned regarding your reference to Windows Defender. It is a long time since I had Windows 8 on my laptop (now Win 10), but my recollection is that Windows Defender in Windows 8 (and also 10) is a completely different Microsoft product to Windows Defender in Windows 7 and below. In Windows 7 and below, Defender just provided scanning for known viruses in the file structure and was not a full blown AV product. In Windows 8 & 10, Defender became a full blown Anti-Virus product similar to Microsoft's earlier free Security Essentials product previously used on Win 7 and below PCs. Why Microsoft continued with the Defender name for this completely different product is a mystery. Most commercial AV products DISABLE Windows Defender in Windows 8 & 10 if the commercial AV installer finds Defender running. You should NOT run TWO full Anti-Virus products on the same PC, else all sorts of problems can arise.

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It seems to me your Windows PC security policy needs a complete review.

[RDS]

My suggestion, before you do anything else would be to upgrade to Windows 10, whilst it is still available for free. (up until the 29th July)

[pcb]

Thank you Chrisaf for your advice. I have upgraded to Windows 10. Re Firewall, I do not need a firewall as the computer is only to be used running Railmaster. However despite doing all this and making Railmaster an exception in Windows firewall, I am still unable to register my Railmaster with the message 'unable to access gateway'  When I originally downloaded to Evaluation programme direct from Hornby, it worked well. Should I try downloading this again and purchase rather than Activate.Paul

ps The copy of Railmaster sent by Hornby is version 1.2.

[St1ngr4y]

Can you access anything else on the Internet from this computer?

Ray

[96RAF]

You should always use the download version from the link at top of the RM forum page as this is the latest iteration, regardless of how you intend to obtain your code key.

 

The demo version by the way is a fully functional download just that until you input your code those functions are not available to you.

Once the code is entered then all restrictions are lifted.

[pcb]

Can you access anything else on the Internet from this computer?

Ray

 Yes, no problems at all

[pcb]

Can you access anything else on the Internet from this computer?

Ray

 

[Fishmanoz]

Hi pcb, just to check and clarify a number of things.

 

First, you only need to install RM once, but remember you must do so as administrator. However, you then need to ensure you upgrade it to the latest version.  You do this by clicking on the link at the top of the RM forum and installing the downloaded file from the link.  If you originally installed as administrator, you don't have to worry about this again, it will remain so.

 

Our experience tells us that 99% of the time when people can't access the net to activate their evaluation copy, they are being blocked by their AV.  But before worrying about this further, please go to the second top sticky locked thread in the forum, Setting Up and Getting Started, and go through and check everything in there, I do mean everything.

 

Report back and tell us how you go.

[pcb]

Success. Success. I downloaded the latest version of Railmaster from the Hornby website as suggested. Activation went smoothly. I am disappointed with Hornby for sending an old version on disc which caused all the trouble. Many thanks for all your advice.

[96RAF]

Maybe sellers should put a sticker on any retail versions to say do not use this disk but use the download version instead.

 

I have seen this often with other retail software, where the first thing it does on loading from disk is check online and put up a flag before fetching the latest version.

 

Yesterday I exchanged an iPad and the one I got was at rev 7.1.2 which immediately needed updating to rev 9.3.3 before I could do anything else with it, so Hornby is not alone in having old stock lying around.

[Chrissaf]

Glad to see that you are making progress Paul,

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The installer on the CD normally does a check during its initial installation to see if a later version is available. Thus the version on the CD is somewhat irreverent. Of course this check, requires your PC to have functioning access to the Internet for this to work. If the installer finds a later version on the manufacturers Internet server, this will be installed instead.

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The link that you downloaded the later RM version from, is exactly the same source file that the installer will check for the later version. So you have just done manually, what the installer would have done automatically.

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Since you have now installed version 1.64 manually. I highly recommend that you check your railmaster.ini entries relating to "Alternative comms" and "Check controller" and make sure that they are present and compatible with your Elite.

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To see what the correct values for these entries should be, see the locked post at the top of the forum RailMaster section....alternatively, click the following link and look at last post titled RailMaster & Windows 10. The recommendations in that section are just as valid for Windows 7 & 8 as they are for Win 10. If these two entries are not correct, you are likely to have operational communication issues between RM and your Elite.

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https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/railmaster-setting-up-and-getting-started/?p=1

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PS - I would also make the entry "Elite feedback =1" as well.

[Chrissaf]

Text correction.

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"Thus the version on the CD is somewhat irreverent." Should have been irrelevant.

[poliss]

I like irreverent programmes. 🤐

[Fishmanoz]

If I can be a little irreverent, the instructions with this should say open the packaging, retrieve and save the product key, then throw everything else, including the CD, in the bin.  Now go to the Hornby website to the Forums and the Railmaster Forum and download the latest version of the program from the link at the top and install it as administrator by right clicking the downloaded program. then check this link regularly for updates.