Elink connection issue

[Roger Ramjet]

Good evening

Long time rail master user but first time poster.

I had not used my layout for several months but started it up at the weekend and ran into a problem that I have not had since the very early days. The rail master version on my computer I believe was 1.68 and the system immediately wanted to update to 1.72, this I allowed it to do, really wish i hadnt bothered. After the update the computer could no longer connect to the elinks, I run 2, one for locos and one for ancilliaries. I came to the conclusion that this was not a driver issue as the firmware updater was still able to communicate and update both elinks. (They were both on 1.07) I then found the 1.73 update and installed that but still had the same issue. I eventually worked out that the trial copy of Railmaster is still 1.68 and after installing that all iwas well once more. I would really prefer to keep up with the latest version but will remain on this version if necessary. The computer was built for this task some time ago and runs Windows 7 ultimate 64 bit edition, the only other programme installed is railmaster.

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Chrissaf]

Update to 1.73.

1.73 is the version that will download manually from the download link at the top of the RailMaster forum and is the preferred version to update to.

 

Then to get your eLink communicating with this new version [this is a configuration difference that needs to be performed compared to the original 1.68 version configuration].

 

Open the 'railmaster.ini' file editor [bluish COG icon bottom corner of 'Help Screen']. Look for the following entry:

 

Reset eLink on start=1

 

change it to

 

Reset eLink on start=0

 

save the changes and restart RailMaster and your eLink communications should be restored as long as your tinkering and choping and changing versions hasn't corrupted your installation. If this documented fix doesn't work, then post the content of your whole railmaster.ini file for review and scrutiny. The fact that you are running dual eLinks might possibly add a complication.

 

You may need to check and ensure that the Com port numbers that has been assigned to your eLinks match in both Windows Device Manager and the RailMaster 'System Settings' screen.

 

If you had kept abreast of the changes from 1.68 to 1.69 to 1.70 etc by monitoring these forum pages, you would have been aware that this documented fix came into play when RM updated from 1.69 to 1.70. Each time a new version is released any resultant issues that arise are usually discussed in this forum section.

 

TIP: As a newbie poster on the forum, just be aware that the 'Blue Button with the White Arrow' is not a 'Reply to this post' button. If you want to reply to any of the posts, scroll down and write your reply in the reply text box at the bottom of the page and click the Green 'Reply' button.

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See also – further TIPs on how to get the best user experience from this forum.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/tips-on-using-the-forum/

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[Roger Ramjet]

Thank you for the very prompt reply,

 

I will give that a try from a fresh install just in case there is a corruption issue as you say.

 

1.72 was installed first as this was the version that Rail master found by itself, when this ran in to issues I then used the link at the start of the forum which as you say is 1.73.

 

Thanks again for your advice and I will let you know how it goes.

[Fishmanoz]

Suggest you don't do a fresh install except as a very, very, very, very last resort. 

It also sounds strange to me that an auto upgrade on startup would have taken you to 1.72 given the current version is 1.73.  

No matter, upgrade from the link to latest 1.73 as Chris says and follow his instructions which regularly solve problems for users. 

[Roger Ramjet]

Installed directly from the link at top of page without uninstalling first, made change to INI file, saved and closed.

 

Restarted Railmaster and all is well once again, I actually did a few shutdowns and restarts just to check and all seems fine.

 

Thanks again for the support.

[Chrissaf]

Your welcome Roger Ramjet.

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As Fishy says, my solutions usually work more often than not. As I said before, keep abreast of the RM changes as they get reported via this forum media. Then you are less likely to get left behind with the latest RM developments.