Hornby Elite not seen by Windows 10

[Peetbee]

Hi, I've tried looking through for a solution to this, without luck, so apologies if it's out there.

Just picked up a used Elite which is on v1.3 and whilst it operates trains successfully, I can't seem to get my pc to recognise it. It's not detected in Device Manager, I've tried a couple of different USB cables too. It's plugged in direct, not through a hub.

Any suggestions of what I could try next please?

[96RAF]

In Win 10 it does not show as an Elite, simply as an in use comm port.

Open Dev Mgr and watch which comm port comes into play as you plug the Elite in.

Presumably you intend to update it from v1.3 (very old) to v1.45 (latest).

The first time you plug it in Win 10 will find it and load its own drivers, then confirm it is ready for use. Do not try to load any other drivers, such as Rail-master drivers as they will throw a spanner in the works.

[Peetbee]

Many thanks, apologies, I should have said it doesn't register in Device Manager. It doesn't see it as a new piece of hardware, install any drivers and no new comm ports come into play :(

Railmaster has never been installed on this pc either. Am starting to suspect a faulty USB port on the elite, but was hoping that I was either missing something or there was some special incantation I could utter whilst connecting it!

[Brew Man]

Or possibly a faulty USB cable. Do you have another to try? I haven't had mine connected to a PC since I upgraded the firmware a year ago, but I can't recall any problems with Windows 10 seeing it, albeit as a standard COMMS port.

[96RAF]

Likely why the Elite was sold and still on v1.3.

If you have tried different USB cables and different ports on the PC then try a unit reset of the Elite through the Menus.

If it is a duff USB port and not a duff circuit in the Elite then changing it is not that much of a job if you are handy with a soldering iron. If so then I have a Teardown on my website that shows you how to dismantle the unit.

[Peetbee]

Likely why the Elite was sold and still on v1.3.

If you have tried different USB cables and different ports on the PC then try a unit reset of the Elite through the Menus.

If it is a duff USB port and not a duff circuit in the Elite then changing it is not that much of a job if you are handy with a soldering iron. If so then I have a Teardown on my website that shows you how to dismantle the unit.

Thanks for your help, have tried another USB lead and still no luck, no joy following the reset either.

Great detail on your site, not 100% confident in tackling it, but will get hold of the bits and take my time

[96RAF]

I found an easier way to get the old component out was to snip the legs off, then you can unsolder those one by one and clean the holes.

Trying to desolder a large component like a power socket, USB or terminal block really needs a hot air gun.

Resoldering the new component in is a standard one pin at a time task.

[Rog RJ]

The easiest way in my experience to remove multi pin components from standard single sided or double sided through hole boards is with a dedicated desoldering iron which uses a vacuum to suck the molten solder away. It often helps to add a bit of fresh solder before desoldering.

The cheap spring powered solder suckers which are used with a normal soldering iron can be used but they are nowhere near as good as a proper desoldering iron. Desoldering braid is very useful in some situations, especially if you add a little bit of extra flux to the braid.

Surface mount components need a slightly different approach where a hot air desoldering tool is often used.

[MartKS1707822133]

when my elite plugs into usb port, i have to open Task manager first click view and set show hidden. Then follow the instructions by the book usb into pc after first part done the com will show up mine is usb com 5, then using the updater make sure its set on the correct com, also i say use pc type 2

[Peetbee]

Thanks MartKS, have tried that without luck.

Have also tried a Win11 PC now and still not recognised. So I will have to summon up the courage to dismantle and try to repair once I've sourced the bits.

[Peetbee]

Thanks MartKS, have tried that without luck.

Have also tried a Win11 PC now and still not recognised. So I will have to summon up the courage to dismantle and try to repair once I've sourced the bits.

[RDS]

.... Railmaster has never been installed on this pc either. ....

 

 

When you say RailMaster has never been installed on this PC, what do you mean?

[Peetbee]

I'd read in one of the tips regarding connecting the Elite, that you should get Windows to recognise it prior to installing Railmaster so that Windows uses it's own drivers.

So I didn't install Railmaster.

Didn't help me though! yum

[Fishmanoz]

The reason for installing the controller first is so that RM recognises it on installation and makes the correct setup adjustments for it, not to ensure correct driver installation. Windows does the driver itself.

[Peetbee]

Unfortunately it didn't work anyway!

96RAF, could you let me know what size triangle driver I need to get please?

[96RAF]

No real idea - it was the only one that came in my cheapie screwdriver set. Not even sure how they are categorised for size - mine is 3mm on each side ??.

An allen key will work but be aware the screw heads are soft and strip out easily.

[Brew Man]

I bought a set of 5 or 6 for around £5. Always useful to have a full arsenal of tools I find.

[Peetbee]

Thanks both, got that ordered

[Peetbee]

Gave up in the end, was unable to repair it, USB port was not the issue :(

Thanks for everyone's help though

[ColinB]

I assume you are using Railmaster to do the connecting. The communication between the PC and Elite is very poor, I have written a lot of USB to external devices and it even took a while for me to get mine to work. Normally one of the issues is Windows loads its own USB driver which will not work with the Elite, so you have to go into your PCs System Manager to get it to load the right driver usually found in the Railmaster install directory. Even then the comms are still not that good, on mine it has a few goes to connect, I have to power the Elite on and off as per Railmaster instructions to get it to work. Now there will be lots on this site that will say "mine works perfectly", but then as I have found from years of bitter experience on one PC USB comms will work perfectly on another it gives issues, quite often when people are using the same make and model of PC.

[96RAF]

Colin you have that the wrong way round.

Win 10 has its own driver for the Elite whereas earlier versions of windows require use of the RM drivers. Using the RM driver on a Win 10 machine will give comm problems.

From what Peet has previously said it is a hardware fault in the Elite not a driver problem.

[ColinB]

Yes 96RAF you are right, all my PCs run windows 10, then I remembered the one I tested RM on is Windows 7 Professional. Yes, my apologies, do the comms work any better on Windows 10.

[P-Henny]

The driver that is included with Railmaster is only designed for Windows XP and Windows Vista. It is a legacy driver for pre Windows 7 systems [you must take into account that RM was originally written for Windows XP]. The same later Microsoft driver that is downloaded from the MS driver repository as part of the Elite and eLink 'plug n play' detection is also used on Windows 7 as well as Windows 10 & 11.

Using the RM supplied XP/Vista driver on Windows 7 [or 10 & 11] will not work correctly as previously indicated by 96RAF.

[ColinB]

I must admit I assumed RM was picking up its own driver on Windows 7. I know it didn't work on the default one and when I went into the System Manager and asked it to load the driver, it picked up one that worked. Now on that machine there are a few USB drivers for apps that I have written, so it may be using one of those for all I know. I don't intend using it, I just loaded RM to see how good it was.