Railmaster not seeing elite

[Terry66]

I have not used my layout for a significant period. I set up after a while mothballed and updated Railmaster (now at 1.74) - done ok. I have DDC and DC layouts. DCC has railmaster with elite (and select connected to elite normally). Two issues i need help with please:

1) Device Manager is seeing the USB on COM4 but Railmaster says Elite not connected when i activate Railmaster?

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2)I then wanted to plug the elite in to update it as it is still on v1.3. I have also tried updating the firmware on the elite but again the USB sees but the update does not? COM4 is there but when i press download it shows and IO exception - "Error in open the port".

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I am no expert and having spent hours trying and reviewing various sites am at a loss as to what is wrong in both caeses? My PC has updated significantly since i last used my layout, including uplifting to Windows 10. Can anyone assist please?

[Chrissaf]

Thank you for the images, that has allowed me to identify exactly what your two issues are.

 

Issue 1.

 

Your 'railmaster.ini' file is corrupted and missing vital entries and needs to be regenerated. There should be about 40 lines populating your .INI file and three quarters of them are missing including lines crucial to controller communications.

 

To regenerate the .INI file, closely follow these documented steps:

 

1. Download the Railmaster 1.74 installer from the link at the top of the RailMaster forum. I note that you have installed 1.74 already, but this process below requires you to run the installer again.
2. Close down RailMaster so that it is not running.
3. Connect and power your Elite and let Windows load the drivers so that "USB Serial Port (ComX)" is listed in Windows Device Manager. Your DM 'screen grab' currently shows Com4 where X = 4. Leave the Elite connected and powered.
4. Use Windows 'File Explorer' to find and delete the 'railmaster.ini' file located in the Railmaster program(x86) folder.
5. Right click the downloaded 1.74 installer file and choose 'Run as administrator'. This will generate a new 'railmaster.ini' file'. If you do not completely delete the original .INI file as documented in 'step 4' then a new file will not be created.
6. Find the 'notepad.exe' file on your PC, right click it and choose 'Run as administrator'. This ensures that Windows doesn't give an 'unable to open / save file' error message.
7. When notepad opens, use it to open the new 'railmaster.ini' file.
8. Look for these two lines 'Alternative comms=X' and 'Check controller=X' where the Xs are either a 0 or a 1. As you have an Elite and also using Windows 10, make both values = 0 if they are not that value already.
9. If they are not already, move those two lines [in step 8] to the very end of the .INI file. Move by deleting them and retyping them. Remove any 'blank lines' found in any part of the edited file list.
10. Look for the line 'Reset eLink on Start=X' and make sure that X = 0
11. Look for the line 'Elite feedback=X' and make sure that X = 1
12. Save the edited 'railmaster.ini' file.
13. Restart RailMaster and check the 'System Settings' screen again and make sure that the Com port numbers match the one in Windows Device Manager.

 

If you follow the guidance above exactly as written, then your RailMaster should now recognise the Elite OK.

 

Issue 2.

 

With regard your second question relating to the the Elite updater, your screen grab error message is indicating that the Elite has not been put into the correct 'update' mode. You need to use a very exact methodology to put the Elite into update mode. I would also suggest you use "PC Type 2" not the PC Type 1 indicated on your screen grab.

 

Rather than reinvent the wheel, this previous post of mine goes through the full Elite firmware update process step by step.

 

Updating Elite firmware [written for Ver1.43 but still the same for current version]. Sixth post down on the page that opens.

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/running-the-eureka-3801-on-the-elite/?p=1

 

Alternative Elite firmware update method if documented method above fails [see reply by Peter Rowney – 2nd post up from the bottom of the page].

https://www.hornby.com/uk-en/forum/elite-bricked/?p=2/#post-264669

 

THIS IS A VERY LONG REPLY. PLEASE DO NOT CLICK THE BLUE BUTTON TO REPLY. Please read the TIP below to reply.

 

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. TIPs include 'How to post images' and 'How to make links clickable'.

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

 

[RDS]

@Terry66

Maybe you could let us know if the information provided by Chris has solved your problem.