Hornby Railmaster and BT HomeHub

[Gbh4]

Hi all

 

I've recently purchased Railmaster and have it fully working so no issues now, but I thought I would just give some info on the issues I had getting the licence to be validated.

 

I followed the guidance to the letter, my laptop had no antivirus software on it at all and the windows firewall I had disabled and it still wouldn't connect. As far as computers go I'm very experienced with them so know what I am doing. Literally nothing I did would work.

 

But, this morning I brought my laptop into work, turned it on and connected to the WiFi, tried the activation process again and it worked perfectly.

 

So for anyone with a BT HomeHub, once you have followed the instructions to disable firewall, add exceptions all that stuff, if it still not working, try taking it to somewhere else with a different router.

 

My HomeHub was stock, nothing had been changed and it was clearly the cause. I know when I was looking at all the threads on here that it is causing a massive headache to a lot of people, so if you have tried everything and it still doesn't work, try taking it to somewhere else with a different router. This may not just be a BT HomeHub only problem, it could affect other routers.

 

Whilst the software looks great and I can't wait to try it all out, I have never in all my years of using hundreds of computer programs come across an activation process so strange, but it's working now so that's the main thing.

 

Thanks
Greg

[Chrissaf]

I have had several BT Home Hubs...started off with the ADSL version and now on a HomeHub 5 (FTTC). Never had any RM communication issues with any of them and never had to make any security configuration changes in any of them either.

.

So why yours....is a mystery.

[96RAF]

Thanks for the feedback Greg. It could save some folk a whole bunch of grief.

No doubt AC our IT guru will explain why the BT hub is being a pest.

Rob

[Augustus Caesar]

Sure as fish and chips go together Rob....

 

BT Homehubs are nothing spectacular and will not get in the way, usually, of activating RM and disabling its 'firewall' is akin to turning the router off in one sense.

The router itself is effectively your firewall with all its security features making it up as they work as a whole inside the box. My own Draytek Vigor 2862ac has lots of security features an ordinary BT Hub will never have and while its own 'firewall' features can be turned off they are usually only selected features while others cannot be touched. These features are usually those which can help stop incoming attacks to ones systems, DoS (Denial of Service) attacks, filters and diagnostics such as TCP connections for example.

You should never disable a router's firewall anyway if it has those features as described. They simply do not stop outgoing stuff and especially not on an ordinary hub like the BT ones.

 

Software firewalls are a totally different beast and there is plenty information around without myself going through that here and boring folk with it all.

Having said that though, Window's own firewall is perfectly adequate for the average person unless they are gamers etc. who need peer to peer protection for example where a stronger firewall is absolutely necessary although that depends upon the connection and data transfer types being utilised.

 

Now, where the likely issue will have been here is that the servers that are being connected to for activation of RM have either been down or have been rejecting the connection, as we know this does happen, for whatever reason. To suddenly gain a connection the following day is not really fault finding as opposed to just being lucky that the servers are up and taking the connection.

If the server is being connected to by others, robot technology or whatever, a bottleneck can occur and the server will reject anything causing an overload thus protecting its own systems. Simple as that sometimes.

But, this morning I brought my laptop into work, turned it on and connected to the WiFi, tried the activation process again and it worked perfectly.

This in itself, whilst it helped obviously, does not mean BT hubs are at fault or that they give poor service.

Whilst these routers are not great they shouldn't get in the way of this type of event.

 

One thing I would say to the OP is have you tried switching off the router for approximately 30 seconds or so and then turning it back on so as to clear the cache inside the router? You'd be amazed how many times I call out to homes, businesses and the likes where access to certain sites can be made but not others where this simple thing clears that issue up unless, of course, there is another more aggressive problem. With, as you say, your experience as it is you may already realise this trick can work and maybe even tried it.

While your solution may work for others it is generally not a sole solution and not one that all users of RM can implement of course and, yes, BT routers do have issues but generally speaking they are easy to work around if the issue is known.

 

If anyone has a BT Homehub, or any other router stock supplied by their ISP, don't forget... you don't have to use the one supplied. Even Sky routers, which Sky insist their customers use and are blocked from users editing user details inside (hidden usually), can be taken out of service and replaced by your own. As long as you keep your user details supplied by your ISP for connection to their service you can use a router of your own choice. A Sky router username and password can found by searching for and utilising a web site which converts your wireless details into that form so you can use them with a different router. Sky can detect that a user isn't using their router (I've used mine for eleven years without them stopping the service) but all you need do if seeking help from them, via telephone generally where spot the other router, and they ask about it is tell them you're testing a router for a friend whilst talking to them... simples. This is not illegal by the way, just Sky being daft.

[Gbh4]

Thanks AC.

I wasn't suggesting BT HomeHubs are at fault or give poor service. My HomeHub is excellent and for WiFi range it can't be beaten even by an expensive Netgear Gaming Router with bells and whistles galore.

 

There could be several reasons here. Either my HomeHub had some strange setting, it needed a reboot to clear the cache as you suggest or that the RM servers had an issue when I tried to validate it last night. 

 

But whatever was the outcome I brought it to work with me and it worked fine, so now a happy bunny.

 

As for a software firewall no one should ever had anything other than the Windows Firewall. Just a waste of time and computer resources, especially Norton! 

[Augustus Caesar]

No problem Greg...

 

I don't doubt your experience or personal outcome re the Hub and you are correct in what you say above. It appears you have been unlucky in that it may have been giving an issue which, at the time, wasn't identifiable easily.

 

Gaming routers are a misnomer in their own right. Just because it says "Gaming" on any box doesn't mean it has all the, as you say, 'bells and whistles'. These are quite specifically aimed at some type of person other than ordinary users and while the equipment may be decent it can be less useful to an ordinary user where certain ports are preset in advance of purchase for the online gaming experience etc..

 

Whatever the reason for the issue you had we can only surmise that one or two things may have been at the hub of the 'fault' (forgive the pun - unintended). As long as it is now sorted that's the main thing. It is good that you pointed out the scenario however, as this might just give others a clue and from the follow-ups further opportunities to sort their own problems as they arise. That's precisely what the forum is for. It's also good that you included what your eventual fix for you was too.

Happy railwaying....

[Fishmanoz]

Just one other point Greg - activation process so strange?  Isn’t the process exactly the same as for most everything else we see - enter the key, hit activate, the info is then sent to the source site servers for verification and bob’s your uncle. What’s different with RM?

 

Now before all who’ve had problems jump up and tell me they’ve had communications problems doing this, I agree RM seems to have more than its fair share of those (although just like Chris I’ve never experienced any, apart from more lately having to list RM as an exception with my Trend AV software), but still the activation process is the same.