RM activation issue under XP

[RB51]

Trying to activate railmaster 1.67 under XP. In activation screen, click the tick, get message "Connecting to activation gateway", after a while I get a popup message "unable to enter resource 12029". Try again, get popup "Unable to enter resource 12002". Windows firewall is off. Norton firewall is off.

After 5 or 6 attempts get message "Submitting activation request", then get popup "Key not downloaded correctly" etc. Windows firewall is off. Norton firewall is off. User is administrator. XP does not give "Run as administrator" option when running.

What do I do now?

[RB51]

Your post has been re-titled RMRED, to make it discoverable in a search by others. R-

[RMRED]

PS  Should add - Railmaster folder and subfolders have had readonly status removed. Internet connection icon on top rh of screen is greyed-out even though internet is working perfectly well, I've tried changing COM posrts in RM to no avail (is using COM4)..

[Chrissaf]

You might very well have the Firewalls turned off, but they are still blocking RM. The error messages you have stated are 'classic' can't communicate through the Firewall error messages.

.

You shouldn't be running two Firewalls anyway, either the Windows one or the Norton one. Not both. I used to be a big fan of Norton, when it was owned by Peter Norton. Once Symantec bought him out just for the Norton name, the Norton products went down hill fast. Norton (as well as McAfee) are just too aggressive.

.

Have you manually added the RM exceptions in the Firewalls. I can't help with the Norton one (look in the RailMaster Security pdf in the RM program folder), but adding an exception to the Windows one is described here:

.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/elink-program-track/?p=2/#post-154731

This one was written for W7, but should not be too dissimilar for Win XP. You will need to follow a similar process for the Norton Firewall as well, it will have the capability to do so, it is just a matter of finding the right menu option in Norton.

.

XP does not give "Run as administrator" option when running.

.

Correct, administrator running is not an XP option.

[Fishmanoz]

Try turning Norton off, not just its firewall.  Better still, uninstall it and get a real one.

[RMRED]

Thanks for that Chrissaf, now working.

How I got it to work, frankly, defies belief, but I'll record it here for future reference

1) Norton - switched the firewall back on, so I could add railmaster to the exceptions list. It was already there! Left Norton firewall switched on.

2) Windows firewall - left this switched off, didn't need to be on to access the exceptions list. Again, found "Railmaster" in the exceptions list. Flash of inspiration (born of almost 50 years in IT before retirement!) - removed RM from the exceptions list, and added it back in. Couldn't find it at first (Alphabetical list) - but then found it further up the list, entitled "Hornby Railmaster".

Bingo!

Now I didn't at any time add RM to either of the exceptions lists. What I did do was

a) Install RM from the installation DVD (v 1.22)

b) Got a message when I started it up telling me to update - so I did.

c) Some time later the installation finished, started up RM again, to find its now 1.64 or somesuch - and a message telling me to update it. So I did.

d) Checked it all worked "on the bench" so to speak, then moved the PC to my model rail room (well, the corner of the conservatory with my 4' by 2' layout in it!)

e) Attempted to register, final check that all is working, after some time and frustration posted this thread.

Since I didn't at any time add RM to the firewall exception lists, I can only assume that one of the installations did it, either the 1.22 or the earlier 1.6x, then somewhere along the line some bright spark changed something in RM that caused an identity crisis.

So I'm happy that its now working having successfully deregistered from my W7 laptop (installation on which was another long and frustrating story) and registered on the XP PC.

Further than that I'm saying nothing that hasn't been said many times over on this Forum - except that given the Forum feedback on RM, Hornby needs to get a grip.

And I've crossed my fingers and started hoping ...

[Chrissaf]

Yes you are quite right, the Installer SHOULD make the requisite additions to the Firewall exceptions list. Usually what happens a security message pops up saying that the installer wants to make changes to security or some such words. Usually with an 'Allow' or 'Decline' option.

.

I think what sometimes happens (obviously not in your case) is that the inexperienced novice doesn't really appreciate the significance of the pop-up message and because it talks about security (probably with a warning about doing this can open your PC to a security breach or some such phrasing) they panic and choose the 'Decline' option. Then wonder why RM doesn't work properly.

.

In hindsight, it probably wasn't a good idea to install from such an old CD/DVD i.e version 1.22. It is always best to use the very latest download from the link on this forum (currently at the time of this post 1.67). You only need the CD/DVD for the authentication key printed on the packaging.

.

You wrote: either the 1.22 or the earlier 1.6x

.

I assume that was just a typo as 1.22 is a very old RM version and much earlier than 1.6x not the other way round.

.

I will make a mental note regarding your comment about removing the existing RM entry, then re-entering it manually. This action may possibly have resolved other forum members authentication issues in the past (too late now for them) where they said the entry was present. Once they told us the entry was present, we tended to tick this off the list of things to check. So thank you for posting your fix as it may prove very useful for the future.

.

You say you moved RM from W7 to XP and infer that was because of issues running RM under W7. Looking at your previous posting history, you don't appear to have raised any posts regarding these previous W7 issues. If you had, we probably could have helped resolve them for you.

.

W7 issues with RM can nearly always be resolved by amending entries in the railmaster.ini file. I won't go into the details in this post about what those amendments are as you are now not on W7 any more. But if you get any problems running RM with XP, come back here and post what they are and we can try to assist further.

[RMRED]

You say you moved RM from W7 to XP and infer that was because of issues running RM under W7. Looking at your previous posting history, you don't appear to have raised any posts regarding these previous W7 issues. If you had, we probably could have helped resolve them for you.

Not at all - I have W7 on my laptop and main household PC on my network. I'd installed Railmaster on the laptop and got it working, then an old XP machine that I'd lent to someone long ago became available, so that one is now dedicated to the model railway and I don't have to keep removing and reconnecting the Laptop when I use it for other purposes! Much more convenient.

 

I managed to resolve the W7 issues from information in the multiple sets of documents and from info on this and other forums which pointed me in the right direction. While I got frustrated with that one, I enjoyed (in a masochistic sort of way) the challenge. Once, that is!

 

Sorry about the typo, and I hope I haven't offended anyone with my comments.

 

PS I'd be interested in seeing any .ini file parameters that aren't shown in the guide - are they documented somewhere accessible?

[Chrissaf]

Sorry about the typo, and I hope I haven't offended anyone with my comments.

.

Comments offence ????? I can't see anything that could remotely be applicable to that.

.

I'd be interested in seeing any .ini file parameters that aren't shown in the guide - are they documented somewhere accessible?

.

To the best of my knowledge there are no other valid .INI parameters other than what are listed on pages 32 & 33 of the 1.67 version guide dated December 2017 on the front cover. If you have installed or updated RM to 1.67 then this should be the guide version placed on your HDD.

.

When I wrote:

"W7 issues with RM can nearly always be resolved by amending entries in the railmaster.ini file."

.

I meant, amending the entries of existing .INI lines OR adding them if missing. You won't always find all the entries listed in the manual are actually in the live working .INI file. Some members who had issues, only had 6 lines in their .INI file and the solution to their issues was to delete their file and generate a fresh one with more lines in it containing the important ones that were missing.

.

The .INI file entries that resolve most members RM communication issues and also 'short circuit' on screen notifications (only applicable to eLink) relate to the "Check controller & Alternative comms" lines. These two lines were introduced with Windows 7 and were not present in the .INI file with the previous XP RM version. HRMS introduced them to resolve communication issues between RM and the attached controller because of problems using the Windows USB driver (in XP, this Windows driver wasn't used and the Hornby supplied one was used instead). Since you have regraded back to an XP machine, your Device Manager should have the driver listed as "R8214 Hornby Elite". The same driver is used for eLink as well when using XP. If it says "USB Serial Port (Comx)" where x is a 3 or a 4, then you have installed the Windows USB driver in XP (not sure if that is even possible as I have never tried it).

.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

EDIT: You might want to check out the post I have just made regarding a new 1.68 RM version.

.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/railmaster-168/

.

As a major revision this new version should be auto-detected when RM starts up (minor revisions are not auto-detected). But if not detected, you can just run it over the top of the installed version, there is no need to deactivate or uninstall the existing version when performing a manual upgrade.