Communication problems from PC to Elite to Layout

[HiroNakamura]

New laptop? Probably has a bloated virus scanner like Norton installed making it strain. Try removing that and see if it runs better.

May close down any "sidebar" gadgets such as the weather or computer stats. They make my netbook strain.

Try

changing the display quality settings to "Performance" so that the laptop isn't working hard making windows and stuff see through and pretty.

Spend some time removing any programs and "bloat-ware" that you aren't going to need. It's good practice with

any new computer to get rid of the junk.

You can always install a better antivirus program after, such as AVG.

(Running Win 7 without any problems)

[wiggy25]

Andrew is it possible for you to send Railmaster support an email from Windows 7?
They may be able to look at some of the other settings and see whats going wrong.

Just another thing to try.
I do have a Windows 7 laptop, if I get chance I

may try and install Railmaster on it to see what happens.

Cheers

Ian

[Andrew Rolland]

Yes it's a brand new laptop with Mcafee AV installed. It was turned off to allow installation and activiation of Railmaster. I've turned it off and on but it made no difference to running Railmaster.

I've already checked there is very little else

running on the laptop when Railmaster is running, plenty of processing power/space left. I have very little software on it.

I believe I can send Railmaster an e-mail from within the programme but Hornby CS have provided me with one which I can send

a full and detailed account of all the faults.

[wiggy25]

Andrew,

I have just installed Railmaster on my daughters brand new Lenovo laptop running Windows 7.
It has Mcafee on but I've not activated it....or Railmaster!

I downloaded the trial version likned to in the Railmaster forums and installed

it as administrator.
When I went to run it for the set-up I also selected run as administrator.
Once installed I plugged the Elite in (power was turned on to the Elite) Windows couldn't find the driver, tried but failed.
I went into device manager

and clicked on the com port which showed the CRC emulator message I clicked on this and then clicked on install driver and browsed to the Railmaster folder, this all installed OK.

I then opened Railmaster and changed the com port to match the actual

setting.
Just carried out a quick test and the four points and two locos are all being controlled with no problem.(demo version only allows 4 points and 2 locos to be controlled)

When you un-install Railmaster you need to go into the C: drive programs

and files and also delete the Railmaster file as well.
I really don't know what else to suggest, but I do have it working on Windows 7.
I do have the blue&gold shield icon on the shortcut for Railmaster but it does load and work fine.
I'm not too

bothered with this icon showing I think there is a way of removing it by changing some settings but it's going to uninstalled.
I just wanted to see if it does work.

Cheers

Ian

[wiggy25]

Oh forgot to say I did actually save the file to my PC and then installed it.

The addresses of the points or locos are not changing are they when you've re-loaded the program?

To test it I just selected a few points and addressed them in

the design page to what they actually are on the layout.
Same with the locos, I just selected any loco from the locos page and gave them the address numbers of two loco that happened to be on the track to see if they could be controlled.

Tried it

a few times now and all seems to be working OK.

Cheers

Ian

[Andrew Rolland]

Thanks Ian

You haven't done anything I haven't done. My desktop Icon shows as you describe.

I installed and ran the programme each and every time as administrator.

Point addresses all matched each time, loco address matched, was only

using 1 loco with the id of 0001.

Each time I uninstaleld it I deleted the files from the C Drive before re-installing it.

The Drivers are their for the Elite, the device manager calls it up as the Rwhatever Hornby Elite.

I did manage

to change some points then it stopped working when I put a loco on the track, that's the bit that really annoys me.

I couldn't face playing with it last night, I wasn't feeling strong enough for another two to three hours of frustration. Instead I spent

some time clearing off old files and programmes from the old Windows XP machine in readiness for installing Railmaster.

When I've taken a brave pill, I'll have another go.

I really appreciate the advice from all.

Thanks

Andrew

[wiggy25]

Hi Andrew,

I really don't know whats happening.
How long can you operate the points for without putting a loco on?
Just clutching at straws now, to see if there is a problem with the loco causing strange happenings.

Have you spoken

to Railmaster support, they reply very quickly and will try their hardest to get the problem sorted.

Cheers

Ian

[Hornby Customer Care]

RailMaster has been tested thoroughly on Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista and 7, including 64-bit versions and works correctly.

There are several reasons why RailMaster may not communicate properly with the Elite and the following should be checked:--

1.

It is important that that software has been installed with full Administrator rights. As explained in the documentation you should right-click on the setup file on the CD and choose "Run as administrator". If you haven't done this, uninstall RailMaster, delete

the RailMaster folder and reinstall correctly. You should also ensure you have downloaded the latest executable from www.powerpos.com/rail-master/railmaster.exe and save it into your c:\program files\railmaster folder. On some systems, security prevents this

file from being downloaded directly into the programs folder, so download it into a temporary folder first, sat, c:\install and then copy it across to the RailMaster folder.

2. The Elite driver should have been installed, without errors. If errors were

encountered during installation of the driver it may not function correctly. You should contact Hornby Customer Care.

3. If your PC has low memory and/or CPU power such as some netbooks, ensure that no other programs are running when running RailMaster.

The more power/memory RailMaster has the smoother operation will be. If you do have a low powered PC then you should un-check the box "send real time data" in settings. This will then only send speed/direction data from the PC only when you release the slider.

4.

Some anti-virus/spyware/communications programs have been known to interfere with RailMaster's normal operation, which can slow it down and cause communications problems. You may need to suspend these programs or add RailMaster as exceptions, including for

Internet access. It is also important that RailMaster is allowed full access through any firewall being used.

5. If you are having comms problems, switching off your PC including removing the power lead, and if it is a portable PC the battery too, waiting

five minutes and powering up again. This is because Windows can lock the USB port - even when the PC is turned off.

6. Connect your Elite to a different USB port on your PC. Ensure you change the Com port setting in RailMaster settings to the new port

created by Windows. Also see point 11.

7. Using a different USB cable shorter, higher quality, sheilded. This is important because of the two-way traffic between the PC and Elite. Cheap cable have been known to cause issues.

8. Reseting the Elite

unit itself Menu=>Reset

9. Ensure the Elite is in "Standard" mode. You can see this when the Elite starts.

10. Ensure the Elite is running firmware version 1.3. You can see this when the elite starts.

11. Change the Com port number. If

Windows has allocated a port above 4 then try to use ports 1 to 4 (and remember to change this port also in RailMaster). Another thing to remember is that com ports 1 and 3 and ports 2 and 4 share the same IRQ address, so if you are using RailMaster on port

1 and another device on port 3 then the latter may interfere with RailMaster and you should disable it. Likewise, if you are using Com port 2 and another device exists on Com 4 try disabling the latter or changing the port to a higher number.

If all

of the above do not resolve the problem then you may have a faulty Elite unit or a faulty Windows set-up. You could send a Help Request from within RailMaster so that the RailMaster Support Team can log into your PC and investigate further.

[Andrew Rolland]

Thanks for the advice Hornby

Thank you for confirming it has been tested on 64bit versions of Windows 7. I have a 64bit version of Windows which I have not mentioned previously in this thread.

1 Each and every time I installed and ran Railmaster

this was done as administrator. New version of Railmaster has been downloaded several times during various uninstals/re-installs. The Railmaster folder was always deleted after uninstalling and then deleted from recycle bin.

2 No errors were encountered

when installing the drivers.

3 PC is not low powered nor was there eany other software running. I even switched off my AV.

4 AV was switched off during installation and activation and also during attempts to operate the software.

5 No

coms errors, laptop will accept and communicate to other devices (printer and pen drive) from all COM ports.

6 Tried all three COM ports (3 to 5) on the laptop and changed subsequent settings to match within Railmaster.

7 Tried 4 different USB

cables of all differing lengths. Best results were obtained using a 4.8m length cable.

8 I have carried out a reset on the Elite.

9 Elite is running V1.3 as uploaded from Hornby website on 01.08.11.

10 Elite is running in standard mode.

11

I have spent many an hour changing the COM ports and plugging the Elite into different ones in turn and matching the port id in Railmaster settings. No other devices have been connected to the laptop when trying to operate Railmaster.

If my Elite is

faulty, I presume that means it is only faulty in terms of talking to the PC as it works fine to control my locos and points?

Can you advise what you mean by a faulty Windows set up?

I have an e-mail address for the Software manufacturer and

will contact them. Is the support facility for logging in to your PC available outwith Mon-Fri 9-5? I can only do this outwith office hours.

Thanks again for the advice.

Andrew

[Hornby Customer Care]

A faulty Windows set up can be any number of things:-

1. A virus-attacked Windows which has been "repaired" or "cleaned". It's never the same after a virus attack as files will have been altered and cannot be brought back to exactly the way it was.

2.

An upgrade from a previous version of Windows to the current one; hardly ever goes smoothly. Always best to install new version from scratch, but this is much more time-consuming.

3. Drivers not installed properly for any number of devices from CPU

bridge to LAN to motherboard; this happens often, especially on home-built PCs.

4. Software installed that has access to Windows devices which doesn't work properly.

5. Faulty Windows Registry, caused by any of the above and more.

6. Subtly

faulty hardware like mistiming RAM chips, LAN controllers, CPU or PSU fans running slower than they should (usually due to dirt) and so on, can cause Windows to be unstable.

[wiggy25]

Hi Andrew,

I would fire up Railmaster on the Windows 7 machine and send the developers an email from the about box.

This sends further information which they may be able to gain more information on what is happening.
I would just send

it, they will send a reply and yes I've had replies out of normal hours, but I don't expect this, although it is reassuring to know that notifications are being well monitored.

Cheers

Ian

[Andrew Rolland]

Situation has developed. I have to call Hornby Customer services in the morning, once matter is discussed with CS I'll update on here.

[Andrew Rolland]

After spending over an hour with online Railmaster Tech support, the tech, concluded that I have a faulty USB port on my Elite unit.

I had to install Railmaster on my windows XP machine to check the Elite after we proved that my Windows 7 Laptop

was set up correctly.

Elite would not talk back to Railmaster, the tech says they have had two or three faults like this before.

Hornby CS have requested that I send my Elite to them for repair, so it is getting a trip to the seaside after all.

Thanks

to all at Hornby and Tech support for their help.

I'll let you know once I'm able to play trains!

Andrew

[Andrew Rolland]

Hornby received my old Elite on Tuesday morning. At 9am this morning the door bell rang with the postman handing over to me a brand new Elite unit delivered from Hornby at Margate.

By 9.20 I was changing points and running my loco without a problem.

Everything
worked first time and faultlessly.

A very big thank you to Sophie at the Hornby Customer Care Dept.

I'm playing trains!!!!!

And I'm happy!!!!

Andrew