Loss of point control

[LNERGE]

Hi

I have been losing control of points and accessories occasionally and the only way to get it back has been to close the program and start again. I recently updated the program to 1.73 and problem has become more frequent. Any ideas as to what is going on?

[Chrissaf]

More detail required.

 

Can you be a little bit more specific by what you mean by "losing control". Do you mean clicking a point icon on the RailMaster screen does nothing, and this means that the RailMaster screen point position indicator end up getting out of sync with the physical point positions. Are you operating point X and point Y reacts instead. Please describe the exact issue you observe and what you are doing when you observe it, specify the DCC addresses you are using when you do it.

 

What Accessory Decoder(s) are you using?

 

How are they wired to the output of the controller ... for example if they are R8247 decoders that your posting history infers, are you using the decoder supplied Hornby track clips?

 

Are locos affected in any way, is all loco control completely normal without any strange behaviour observed?

 

How are you physically connecting the controller to the track. If using Hornby power track / clips, please specify the R number of the items used. Also do you have any R8201 link wires included on any part of your layout.

 

I see from your posting history that you are using Elite with RailMaster. Do the points and accessories still work when controlled directly from the Elite?

 

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.

 

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/

 

[LNERGE]

Hi Chrissaf

Clicking the icon causes the point position indicator to move on the screen but nothing happens on the ground. The points will move when called directly from the Elite.

All the points are controlled from Hornby decoders. There may be two of the older types. There are two other four way decoders for signals. It still happens with these disconnected. All connections to the rails are soldered. There are no push fit connections anywhere. All decoders are connected between the elite and the bus distribution board. The railway is divided into track circuit sections via MERG DTC8's

[Chrissaf]

Since they operate from the Elite directly but not from RailMaster the only thing I can suggest that you check is your 'railmaster.ini file' and look for these two lines:

 

/media/tinymce_upload/a56f294aa22c1e3729b0e681da2e92e4.jpg

Try increasing the timer from 0.75 to 1.5

 

/media/tinymce_upload/cbbb3b2f890ab93af80abe017d913184.jpg

Make sure the entry is =1 and not =0

 

Open the .INI file editor by using the bluish COG icon in the bottom left corner of the 'Help' screen.

[LNERGE]

Thank you. I'll hopefully be able to try it this evening. Just off to deal with some real points now.

[St1ngr4y]

Do you control the locos through Railmaster and, if so, do you lose control of locos when the points stop working?

 

Ray

[LNERGE]

I rarely use the on screen loco controls but yes there is loss of all communication. When I close the program the last set of points I was trying to throw operates.

[LNERGE]

Chrissaf. I can see the points timer but where is the double pulse bit located?

[Chrissaf]

If it is not shown, then it is missing in error and could very well account for your reported issue.

 

It has been known for some .INI files to have been created at the original time of installatoion with many .INI file entries missing. In a fully populated .INI file there should be in excess of about 35 lines of entries.

 

Page 32 and 33 in the RailMaster manual lists the bulk of the valid entries. The Double pulse=1 line is shown on page 33 ... see extracts below

 

/media/tinymce_upload/86f015a67fe2ba0e2afbe642c3a426c4.jpg

 

/media/tinymce_upload/56265c9df4c41723a9521d98dd07c049.jpg

 

If you have nowhere near 35 entry lines [or more] and lots of the lines reproduced above are missing, then your .INI file is not complete and needs to be regenerated afresh.

 

EDIT: If you only have about 6 lines in your .INI file, then you definitely need to follow the guidance in the linked thread below. This 6 line .INI file is a documented issue that is not reported that often, but it does adversely affect RailMaster operational stability and needs to be fixed.

 

This previous thread documents 'How to Generate a new .INI file'

 

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/railmasterelite-interface/?p=1/#post-200252

 

If however, you seem to have the rest of the .INI file entries, but just this "Double pulse=1" one is missing then just add it by manually typing it in. I suggest that it is inserted somewhere in the middle of the file above these two lines "Check controller= & Alternative comms= "

 

If you do decide to regenerate a completely new .INI file, then take a note of the following lines [where present] and ensure the current values are reinstated. These three lines are critical for error free controller communications. If you are using an Elite and not an eLink, then you can ignore the "Reset eLink......." line.

 

Reset eLink on start= [if you have an eLink and the current value is =1 then I highly suggest you make it =0]

 

Check controller= [1 or 0 as currently set]

 

Alternative comms= [1 or 0 as currently set]

 

EDIT: If the two lines above are also missing, then tell me which controller you are using and I can give you suggested values for them.

 

In your reply to Ray you wrote:

 

I rarely use the on screen loco controls but yes there is loss of all communication.

 

It looks like you may have a more fundamental issue with your RailMaster installation and configuration that needs to be resolved. When you say you 'rarely use', then what do you normally use to control your locos. Please provide a little bit more detail about your setup.

 

What control products are you using and how are you generally using them?

 

Note that in the linked post above, another member added at the end of the thread that they too only had a .INI file with minimal entries in it [about 6 lines] and that the .INI file refresh cured a mass of instability issues.

 

Also if you are getting 'loss of communication' error messages between RailMaster and your controller. Tell me what controller you are using and I can give further advice.

 

[St1ngr4y]

My reason for asking was.to determine whether the problem could be communications between the pc and the Elite. I recently replaced my Elite with an eLink because the Elite often stopped communicating with the Pc after an hour or so of operation. As with LNERGE, the Elite would continue to work independently.

 

Ray

[LNERGE]

That file has very little in it. I'm sure there are less than ten entries. I do most of my driving from a Select linked to the Elite. It works very well. At this stage i will resist using the rather large spanners i've been using all day on real points to adjust the computer.

[Chrissaf]

OK, now I know that you use an Elite and that your .INI file is not fully populated. Then I highly recommend that you follow these instructions. If you follow this guidance based upon prior forum experiences I feel very confident that your RailMaster issues will be at least improved, if not resolved.

 

Firstly, follow the guidance in my previous reply to regenerate a new .INI file.

 

Once the new file is created and confirmed as having nearer 35 entry lines or thereabouts, make these adjustments (or just confirm them if already set to these values).

 

For an Elite [assuming Windows 10 and RailMaster version 1.73]. Open the .INI file editor using the COG icon on the 'Help' screen.

 

• Find the entries for Check controller= and Alternative comms= and 'delete them'.
• Move your cursor to the very end of the .INI file and re-type them again and make both of them =0 value.
• Optionally, make Elite feedback=1
• Optionally, make Reset eLink on restart=0

 

For some unexplained reason, RailMaster seems to be more stable if the two quoted lines below are moved to the end of the file.

 

Do this and the last two entries in the file should read:

 

Check controller=0

Alternative comms=0

 

Save the .INI file, close and restart RailMaster and test.

 

PS - The regenerated .INI file should now show the "Double pulse=1" line as this is the default RailMaster value for this line in the file.

 

[LNERGE]

Ok i was probably too tired to be fidling around with computer things. Instead of deleting the .ini file i deleted the content of that file.

 

It has never worked so well.

 

When i open it again it is totally blank. I've rebooted the computer and it's still blank and still works well. It will be a couple of days before i get to use it again so i'll see what happens then.

[Chrissaf]

Please do follow the instructions as written. Else your euphoria may be short lived. The instructions as written will provide the very best software environment for RailMaster to work in. The .INI file settings do have a purpose.

[Fishmanoz]

To mix a couple of metaphors - with no ini file contents, RM won't know if it's Arthur or Martha and there will almost certainly be tears before bedtime sometime soon.

 

What I would suggest to recover from this "mistake" is to delete the empty ini file then, making sure everything is turned on and operating, download the latest RM from the link at the top of the forum and install (even if you did that only yesterday).  That will cause RM to create the default ini file for your setup.  RM does this when no ini file is present but won't change even an empty ini file if it finds one. 

[LNERGE]

I am in no doubt i've done the wrong thing. I had an impatient seven year old waiting to play trains. The session was one of the best we've had for ages so rather than carry on trying to fix the problem we played. I will take the sound advice as soon as possible but i'm about to descend into a couple of days of big railway stuff.

[LNERGE]

I wangled a crafty few extra hours at home and have sorted it hopefully. I wont be able to get a proper session in until the weekend but it is looking good. 

Many thanks for the help.

[Chrissaf]

As I have said in many posts answering other members RailMaster questions. Communication errors and instability are nearly always fixable through configuration tweaking. It is just that the official documentation is so dire in offering any troubleshooting suggestions and recommendations. Guidance offered by the forum should be the first port of call with any RailMaster issue.

 

I suspect that many users that do not visit the forum probably give up and go elsewhere for a controller.

[LNERGE]

It has been quite frustrating but it wasn't until we ended up with carnage a few days ago I decided to try and do something about it. 

I usually sit in the driving position with the select and my lad goes into the middle with the Elite. We usually get four trains running on two lines. They are kept apart by the signalling (48 track circuits controlling signals, each with an abc section). The system froze up and we closed the program. The last point that had been called operated as the program closed causing a train to be diverted into one of the return loops. There was a rear end collision with a very heavy class 66 ploughing right through a train of mineral wagons, some of which made it to the floor. Though it wasn't my lads fault he was quite upset. Time to sort it. 

I am generally happy with the system and have had a number of successes with it. I am a bit of a technophobe to be honest. I build and test signalling systems for a living but computers baffle me.

 

Thanks again for the help.

[96RAF]

It is well reported that RM is designed to be operated from the screen, with the actual controller acting as a virtual dumb command repeater. Once you start taking manual control via the Elite and Select walkabout RM can and does get confused and will wrap its hand in.

[LNERGE]

I hope it continues to work as we have a well established way of running the railway. I only use the computer to operate the points and signals. 

LNERGE in the soggy Severn Tunnel. 

[LNERGE]

It's gone completely haywire now. Deleting the ini file before starting the program makes it work ok. Without doing that first causes some rather weird stuff.

[96RAF]

With all due respect it will in all probability turn out to be finger trouble.

The forum has seen it time after time in the past but has been far too polite to embarrass the perp.

[LNERGE]

After start up throwing a point causes the screen to flash as if is trying to throw the point multiple times. The .ini file seems to have an infinite number of lines refering to the tipper.

[Chrissaf]

You must generate a new .INI file using the instructions I gave you and follow them exactly as written in my post timed at 17:39 on Page 1 of this thread.

 

From what you wrote previously, I think you are going wrong by starting up RailMaster after deleting the .INI file.

 

Once you have deleted the .INI file [do not have RailMaster running when you delete the .INI file] ... you do not restart RailMaster.

 

Instead, you run the downloaded installer [from the link at the top of the RailMaster forum] to generate the new .INI file and then and only then re-start RailMaster. To run the installer, you must 'right click' the downloaded and saved installer file and chose 'Run as administrator'.

 

When restarting RailMaster you then ignore any error messages and cancel them to go straight into the .INI file editor to make the .INI changes I recommended. Once the .INI amendments [if any] are saved, then close down RailMaster and restart it again.

 

The above is the abridged version of the full details in my linked posts.

 

If after the final re-start you still get Elite communication error messages, this can sometimes be quite normal. You just have to open 'Windows Device Manager' to check which COMM port has been assigned by Windows to the Elite. Armed with that information, you open the RailMaster 'System Settings' screen, then make sure that 'Controller A' has the same COMM port number selected. Then close and re-open RailMaster once more.

 

Once you have got a stable controller connection then ensure that you keep on using the same USB port for the Elite to connect to. Changing the USB port will likely loose communication between RailMaster and the Elite and you will have to manually sync the allocated COMM port again. RailMaster was written for Windows XP and the COMM port allocations are not automatically maintained in sync. You have to do it yourself, hence the guidance to keep using the same USB port. A PC/Laptop USB 2.0 port is also more reliable than a USB 3.0 port as well.