Trouble starting E Link

[Chrissaf]

I doubt it....

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Note that I have added more text to my last reply in an edit.

[AndyHead78]

The laptop is a HP. Typical that the machine that is best for my job is the worst for my hobby! I've copied and pasted from your previous message about the remote link into another email to HRMS, so hopefully we can work this out.

I want to get my son into railway modelling too, and we were going to spend the day tomorrow setting up a small layout for him too using surplus track from the Western Master set and some extra track I had from my own layout. He'll be devastated if we can't do it this weekend.

[96RAF]

My HP PC tower running Win 10 has a PCi add on board with 2 x USB 3.0 sockets that feed my Elite and eLink for everyday use as well as when running RM. No problems setting them up on Com 3 and 4, fiddling with RM .ini file gets me foolproof connection everytime.

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[RDS]

McAfee is mentioned in the Original Post of this thread.  I seem to recall that problems have been reported previously when using AV software and the difficulties experienced trying to overcome it.

 

Is it possible that this is causing the problem?

[Yelrow]

At the risk of being talked down to, having not posted for a very long time, surely this is a classic case of  Wait, wait wait..   You have to plug in power/ elink in the correct order, turn on railmaster,  waiting for  perhaps 10 seconds between each step.   I posted this years ago, and it used to appear at the start of the thread together with Augustus, helpful comments.   Nothing has changed.  I tried my old Elink, this morning, followed my own thread instructions , and it connected, first time.   If somebody, cleverer than me, can re produce that early post, we may save this poster from a rotten weekend. john

[96RAF]

I found this one John where you were involved...

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/elink-connection-problem-thread-dissapeared/

...but it looks as if the preceding thread my have been deleted as Fishy states in that linked post.

 

I can confirm that I use the 4-amp supply on both my controllers.

[Yelrow]

OK Found it.       Turn everything off,  unplug, wait 5 secs.   Replug. Turn on Elink, with usb connected. Wait 5 secs. Then turn on Laptop.   If no go, remove usb from laptop, Wait 5 secs, re connect.  Once laptop is powered up, Wait 5 secs, then turn on Railmaster.   This was original advice from Hornby. Worked first time this am.. Hope this helps. Every time you go to play, Follow this sequence.

[Yelrow]

Worked on both  1 amp and 4 amp supply.   Providing you get the sequence right, it works.  Remember, Wait, Wait Wait. You have to give everything time to find itself...   If my advice is followed to the letter, you may not need HRMS, to take over the machine, as when they do. .This is how they tell you to do it.

[AndyHead78]

I may have solved the problem. I managed to dig out an older Dell laptop and installed RM on that. When the com ports were matched it updated the eLink (which it did not do on my HP laptop). I then connected the eLink back to my HP laptop and it seems to working okay for the moment. Once I've programmed in the loco on RM I will go and give it a try...

[AndyHead78]

A massive thank you to everyone who has given me advice on here. No doubt I will be back on these forums in the coming months, as I'm bound to have more questions as I start this new hobby.

[96RAF]

You may find that now the eLink has been updated it will connect to the original laptop.

 

Now that you are up and running remember if you make changes to anything in RM it is wise to close RM down then restart it. I have seen some really odd things happen, which resolved themselves after an RM reboot.

[Chrissaf]

I then connected the eLink back to my HP laptop and it seems to working okay for the moment.

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Now that you have eLink communication with the HP Laptop. It would be prudent to go through my documented .INI file checks and modifications again to ensure that the communication is optimised for the HP.

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Once you start to set up your RM for your layout just note that I have written numerous 'How To's' that supplement the poor level of detail in the RM manual documentation. So do come back and ask 'How do I' questions if you get stuck. I'm sure that any question you can think of has been asked before and an answer is already published somewhere on the forum......the secret is how to find them.

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Just to satisfy my own curiosity.......which Com port number are you now using on your working connection via your HP USB 3x port?

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Well done by the way.....however not everyone is lucky enough to have spare laptop hardware lying around to try......so in that respect it was fortunate for you. I keep an old Dell XP laptop in a bottom drawer for just such an occasion, as RM was originally written for XP.

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eLink firmware update WORKAROUND.

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For any reader in the future, following this thread looking for a solution who does not have access to spare PC hardware. Then there is a 'work-around' that might work for you, for updating the eLink firmware. This is also documented on Page 144 of the RM 1.70 manual.

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Use 'Windows (File) Explorer' to navigate to and find this "eLinkNNN.exe" file in the "program (x86) - railmaster" folder. Where NNN is the firmware version number. If there is more than one file, select the one with the latest NNN number.

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Do not have RailMaster running.

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For this to work, the eLink must be recognised in Windows 'Device Manager' and have a Com port allocated to the Windows eLink "USB Serial Port (ComN)" driver.

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Right click the "eLinkNNN.exe" file and choose "run as administrator" and follow any on screen prompts that might display.

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This hopefully should force the eLink to update its firmware if it isn't happening when RM is started.

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[Yelrow]

Andy, well done.   Each time you start up,  remember the sequence and the Wait. Then you should be a happy bunny.  Many of us, use a dedeicated older laptop. It might make sense, to do that, for RM.

[AndyHead78]

I'm using Com Port 2 after re-assigning it from port 6.

[Dav2]

Just to add my way of getting railmaster working. 

I too had major headache problems connecting to my laptop. After doing all the com port settings and matching up on laptop. It still would never connect. 

However I found that opening railmaster before connecting USB worked. It gave the error of unplug and reconnect after 5 secs message. You then plug in the USB lead. Remeber to put it in the correct USB port that you mapped to match the com port as in the railmaster settings.

 

Works everytime for me now. 

 

Checklist:

Power on laptop

Power on elink

Open railmaster

Plug in USB

Click green tick

[96RAF]

Odd how different folk have found different startup sequences work for them.

 

Mine routine is activate remote switch as all plugs are out of reach. All USB cables are permanently plugged in.

This immediately fires up the two controllers and I then have to manually start the PC.

Once the PC has completely finished pratting about I can start RM.

At present there is no layout so the controllers are connected to a test board, mounting ESU test rigs, some accessory decoders, point motors and signal lamps.

[Fishmanoz]

John's startup sequence is the one included in the RM: Settting Up and Getting Started sticky locked thread 2nd top in the forum.  That thread is now very old and his sequence is pretty much the only part of the thread still relevant.