DaveAus Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Have just spent a frustrating day getting nowhere. I read all the forums and all the tales of woe and thought surely not, this is model trains and can't be that difficult. After downloading and following the instructions for Windows 7 to the letter (yes I even had to get a computer as Apple seems to be just a fruit in these quarters) I have gotten nowhere. Elite comm error was as far as I got and now after several attempts I think the computer has just given up as it no longer picks up the device at all. I too have given up as at least I still have 1.3 running. Before I give-up on Hornby altogether and look for other products can I run RailMaster with Elite 1.3 without being a computer wiz and someone who just wants to play trains ??? What really annoys me is that my Elite was purchased long after 1.4 became available and wasn't old stock as I had to wait for it. Have also sent this note to Hornby Support Frustrated Dave from Aus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Hi Dave, I'm also in your part of the world and clearly the common return to Hornby is not an option. However, we do know it's possible, so lets try to fault find our way through this and see if we can get it to work for you. The first step is installing the driver - can we assume you've done that successfully? The second step is going to Device Manager and checking which port the driver is on? This one is important because the errors you note could be indicating this is wrong. Having confirmed the port, this is the first thing you have to insert when you start the installation program as administrator. If you can't find the driver in the port, yo However, before you get to that, you first have to start the Elite in "Upgrade Mode" by doing all those plugging in the power and the USB connection in the correct order while holding the Stop button etc exactly as per instructions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Just accidentally hit Post Reply on the iPad while adding a sentence in the third last line. To complete that - if you can't find the driver in the port, you may need to reinstall it. Anyway, that's pretty much taken you through the whole process. Try it again a couple of times- it's known to take more than one try - and report back if it worked or specifically what error you get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryG300 Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Hi Dave I also had trouble getting windows 7 to get the correct driver, when you plug connect the elite to the pc (without any buttons pushed down) you should see in the device manager Ports(COM & LPT) a drive which 7 recons is OK, it's notdouble click on this driver and go to the driver tab, now click on Update and choose "Browse my computor for driver software. This work OK for me. Now the upgrade, Fishmanoz, tried to help me with doing this upgrade, unfortunatley after many, many tries, I still have fail to get the upgrade to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I've now got an elite that I can't use as the upgrade removes the old version, so I have nothing. So basically you can be lucky and get it to work, or end up the same as me. Terry in the UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAus Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 Thanks Terry, your post has convinced me not to retry the upgrade, being on the other side of the world would mean much time and expense to return the unit to Hornby should the upgrade go wrong. I'll keep my fingers grossed that something user friendly comes along and then the Elite can become a back-up unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted January 15, 2013 Share Posted January 15, 2013 Dave, I still think you are getting the wrong impression by taking TerryG at his word. If you look through this forum, you'll find a number of threads on upgrading the Elite,and very few who've failed completely, although I will admit that a number have needed HCC to bail them out. But these threads represent only a very small proportion of all the Elites out there, and my conclusion is that most have been successful. So again, I'd encourage you to go through my fault finding above before giving up. I personally had no problem on a W 7 64 bit machine, so you can consider me one of the unsilent majority, even if it took 2 goes. There is one certainty in this - if you ever want to run Railmaster, you'll need an up to date Elite, and I'm not convinced its all that hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CobaltUK Posted January 16, 2013 Share Posted January 16, 2013 Like the majority ? I found it quick and easy using my regular win7 64bit pc I think the potential stumbling block for some might be installing the driver where familiarity with the device Manager would help along with careful step by step following the instructions. Not saying thats related to this particular update attempt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Dave I would recommend you persevere with upgrading your Elite to v.1.41. I have upgraded on various Windows versions (XP, Vista and Win 7-32) without problems. The latest installer is much less hassle than the previous method, however please follow the instructions in the download pack to the letter. I was going to suggest that if all else fails you could send it back to Hornby to do the upgrade but from your username I guess the postage would cover a new one. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAus Posted January 19, 2013 Author Share Posted January 19, 2013 Rob I would love to upgrade but my concern is that there is no back-out in the event of a fatal error and I'm left with nothing and 10,000 miles from help. I tend to use the select walkabout for everything except programming and its working fine. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregd99 Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Dave, I have done twenty or more upgrades/downgrades - don't ask! - and have not been able to brick my elite. I have had the occasional upgrade failure but have always been able to retry successfully. The elite bootloader design seems very robust. ie when all else fails you can still load a new version of software into to the device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAus Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 OK will give it another try over the next couple of days. Can my Elite power supply be used on my Select Walkabout to make it a Select Controller ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rog RJ Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 DaveAus said: Can my Elite power supply be used on my Select Walkabout to make it a Select Controller ;) Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAus Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 SUCCESS 1.41 downloaded - still need to see if it works on trains but it's looking good. The difference this time was I totally unplugged the Elite from the train track ie no power or programming connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Well dome Dave, I knew you could do it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Well done, of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 TerryG300 said: Hi Dave I also had trouble getting windows 7 to get the correct driver, when you plug connect the elite to the pc (without any buttons pushed down) you should see in the device manager Ports(COM & LPT) a drive which 7 recons is OK, it's notdouble click on this driver and go to the driver tab, now click on Update and choose "Browse my computor for driver software. This work OK for me. Now the upgrade, Fishmanoz, tried to help me with doing this upgrade, unfortunatley after many, many tries, I still have fail to get the upgrade to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I've now got an elite that I can't use as the upgrade removes the old version, so I have nothing. So basically you can be lucky and get it to work, or end up the same as me. Terry in the UK Maybe even TerryG will be inspired to try it again? Be meticulous with the instructions, as Dave found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAus Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Trains run and points change - Railmaster demo next :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAus Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Fishmanoz - I can't find anywhere in the instructions to remove the Elite from the layout ie disconnect the power and program cables - this seemed to make the difference for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Agree it doesn't say no track connection, however the start of Stage 2 says "With the ELITE unpowered" so clearly you have to unplug from the power supply before you start holding the Stop button etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAus Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Fishmanoz said: Agree it doesn't say no track connection, however the start of Stage 2 says "With the ELITE unpowered" so clearly you have to unplug from the power supply before you start holding the Stop button etc.Yeh I did that the first few times but I still had the Elite connected to the track via the power and program outlets even though the power supply was disconnected - no idea if removing those connections caused the success or I just got lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregd99 Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Dave, you might like to let HCC know that layout connection seemed to make a difference to you. There has been a lot of discussion about issues but I have not heard of a suggested cause before your observation. what would be great would be if you could downgrade/upgrade with and without a connection and see if there is reproducible behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick1968 Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 TerryG300 said: Hi Dave I also had trouble getting windows 7 to get the correct driver, when you plug connect the elite to the pc (without any buttons pushed down) you should see in the device manager Ports(COM & LPT) a drive which 7 recons is OK, it's notdouble click on this driver and go to the driver tab, now click on Update and choose "Browse my computor for driver software. This work OK for me. Now the upgrade, Fishmanoz, tried to help me with doing this upgrade, unfortunatley after many, many tries, I still have fail to get the upgrade to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I've now got an elite that I can't use as the upgrade removes the old version, so I have nothing. So basically you can be lucky and get it to work, or end up the same as me. Terry in the UK Hi if you have updated your driver software all you need to do is un plug the power lead and usb cable, plug in the power cable why holding down the stop button, keep it pressed for 15 seconds, then plug in the usb cable why holding the stop button for 15 seconds, you should then get a window up asking to if you wan to upgrade, you need to select the right port and click on upgrade or ok cant remember off hand, i did it and had no problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Gregd99 said: Dave, you might like to let HCC know that layout connection seemed to make a difference to you. There has been a lot of discussion about issues but I have not heard of a suggested cause before your observation. what would be great would be if you could downgrade/upgrade with and without a connection and see if there is reproducible behaviour. Certainly an interesting question Greg and worth HCC knowing. When I try to think about it logically from an electronics engineering perspective, it's hard to see how connection to a dead track can have any effect. The only possible loading that the Elite can see is the input impedance of any connected and unpowered decoders, and surely that is high. Track impedance should be open circuit at these frequencies although there could be something here if terminators are fitted to a DCC bus. Further against this is that you would expect a high level of isolation between track connections and USB input, again reducing the likelihood of any loading from the track on the upgrade hardware path. But you never know for sure until you try it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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