LED on Elink blinking

[RailRoo]

Hi Everyone... looking for advice on some problems going DCC.

I bought an Elink and Railmaster to get up and going and have had all sorts of issues with drivers USB port settings and the Elink "black box" dropping out from the PC (Win 7 64). In all this I did manage to up and down a CV to a Loco and run for a couple of days. Now I find the Green LED is flashing every second and is not recognised by the PC nor is there any voltage to the track. Has the Elink Module died? after 3 weeks of wondering I now have a new bald spot.

Clue..... If left on for 10mins the green LED goes solid (not flashing) but still not recognised by PC and no track voltage. Is there a factoy reset button?

Thanks in advance

 

 

[Chrissaf]

First things first, check to make sure that you have the correct entries in the "railmaster.ini" file for an eLink. Nearly all communications issues between RM and eLink are resolved by modifying the .INI file.

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'How to'

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In RM, open the 'Help' tab at the top. Click the bluish 'COG' icon in the bottom left of the help popup and follow on screen prompts to open the 'railmaster.ini' file editor.

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Look for and check that these two following lines are present and that they are also the last two lines at the bottom of the .INI file list.

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Alternative comms=1

Check controller=1

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Edit the .INI file as necessary and then save and exit. Also close and re-open RM. Then test for your issue again. Is it fixed?

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PS - If not the last two entries in the list. Delete them from their higher up position and re-type them at the bottom of the list. Add them to the bottom of the list if not there at all. Make sure their values are =1 and not =0

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What eLink driver are you trying to use? Are you using the Hornby one or the Microsoft USB one?. Windows 7 works best with an eLink if using the Microsoft one.

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'How to Check'

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In the RM System Settings window, click the bluish 'COG' icon. This should open Windows 'Device Manager'. Look for the 'COM & LPT' branch of the tree. Which of these two entries are shown. Note: that the eLink must be connected and powered up for this check. The driver information is ONLY populated in the DM list, when the driver is loaded. The driver is only loaded, when the device in question is connected and powered.

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"Elite R8214" (this is the Hornby driver).

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"USB Serial Port (Com n)" where n is a number (this is the Microsoft driver).

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This "n" number needs to be 4 or less and the same numerical number selected in the RM 'System Settings' screen. If these numbers do not match, then communication between RM and eLink is lost. To ensure that these two numbers remain the same, then ensure that you ALWAYS plug the eLink into the SAME USB port on the PC. If you keep using a different physical PC USB port, then a different port number can get allocated in 'Device Manager'. The RM software is not intelligent enough to keep a track of changing port numbers and needs manual correction.

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More information about drivers and setting up is contained in the 'sticky posts' at the top of the RailMaster sub-forum section, including a link to the 'RM help' site.

[Fishmanoz]

Just one tiny thing to add to Chris’s excellent and almost certainly correct reply - before you start, download and install the very latest version of RM from the link at the top of the forum, even if you think you are running the latest already.

[RailRoo]

After bout 10 mins the LED goes solid and then apears in the Control panel as "USB Coms 5" so its the Win driver. "Controller A inactive" from the "COG" icon so cant go any futher. If I turn off and "on" the controller power it takes another 10mins to register in Control Panel???

I did notice the issue of moving the USB port around and how that effected assigning com port numbers

Sometimes RM gives the error mesage "Cant Hanshake with controller....."

 Is there a fuse or reset to factory settings in this thing? Thanks for your help.

Going to borow a friends controller to elininate PC settings

[Chrissaf]

Your setup is unlikely to work whilst Com 5 is still allocated. You need to use Windows 'Device Manager' to force RM to use Com 3 or Com 4. Some clues as to how this can be done are given in this previous thread.

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https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/railmastere-link-problems/?p=1

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Have you followed my instructions for the .INI file editing?......this is important and shouldn't be overlooked. Even if your issue is related to the Com port allocated, the .INI file editing needs to be done first.

[96RAF]

There is also the startup sequence, whereby some like me always start up the controller(s) first, then crank up the PC and when all has settled down start RM.  Others have found the reverse method works, i.e. PC first then controllers.

 

Rob

[Chrissaf]

EDIT to my last post above.

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Monitor the Device Manager as you plug the eLink into different USB ports. See if any particular port sets the Com port to a number between 1 and 4. If it does, then standardise on always using that same port for your eLink connection. Once you have a Com port less than 5, make sure that the same port number is selected in the RM 'System Setting' screen. Also check the .INI file as previously advised.

[Fishmanoz]

Just to summarize, the com port of 4 or under, the edits to the ini file and downloading and installing the latest version of RM are not in the category of “nice to try sometime to see what happens”, they are “essential to make the system work”.  After you’ve done them ,all your current problems will disappear and it will work.

[RailRoo]

edited the .ini file to incude .....Alternative comms=1and Check controller=1....no change to problem!!!

mabe I should have been clearer that the unit is flashing green LED for 10 mins before going solid and then recognised by PC as USB connection. Shurly not every one waits for this to happen before they can operate their layout? After PC "knows" there is something conneted it loads a win driver. Railmaster knows its there too but seems to throw an error that there is a short and "clear the short" error (this unit is not connected to layout track or programing track)

I have borrowed a friends identicle unit and it works pefectly every time on all my settings so I belive this unit is faulty. I will inspect the output ports on elink to see if there is a broken off wire that is making it register the "short" but to me it has never realy worked solidly and happy to just "frisby" it off to see if I can get it in the bin!