Temperamental E-Link

[Mike70]

I've had an e-link unit for a while now. But I have never really got round to using it much until last weekend.

 

I seemed to spend a lot of time re-booting my computer in an attempt to try and connect it. Railmaster seemed to go through the motions

 

of trying to connect, then I'd get a message saying that e-link wasn't available when it is quite clearly connected.

 

Has anyone else had issues with a temperamental e-link?

Would you send it back under the warranty?

 

Is there anyway of re-starting

 

the connection process through Railmaster, i.e. without closing the application?

 

Regards,

Mike.

[Fishmanoz]

Mike, when you say quite clearly connected, do you mean physically plugged in or the right software driver connections have been made? And is it sometimes it does work but often it doesn't?

 

Irrespective, let's start at basics. Have you installed

 

as administrator, unless using XP? Are you using a high quality shielded USB cable and have you tried an alternative? Have you allowed the software and eLink firmware to update to the latest v1.55 and v1.04 respectively? Have you double checked that the com

 

port is still correct by checking it in Device Manager and making sure it is the same in RM Setup (sometimes Windows will change it without telling you)? Is the com port number below 5? Are you sure your virus software is not blocking RM - check via the PDF

 

guide on this installed on your desktop?

 

Let us know how that lot goes and we can progress from there.

[Mike70]

Fishmanoz said:

Mike, when you say quite clearly connected, do you mean physically plugged in or the right software driver connections have been made? And is it sometimes it does work but often it doesn't?

Irrespective, let's start

at basics. Have you installed as administrator, unless using XP? Are you using a high quality shielded USB cable and have you tried an alternative? Have you allowed the software and eLink firmware to update to the latest v1.55 and v1.04 respectively? Have

you double checked that the com port is still correct by checking it in Device Manager and making sure it is the same in RM Setup (sometimes Windows will change it without telling you)? Is the com port number below 5? Are you sure your virus software is not

blocking RM - check via the PDF guide on this installed on your desktop?

Let us know how that lot goes and we can progress from there.

Thanks Fishamonz for the reply.

One of the things that keeps coming up is the update of E-Link

to version 1.04.
It never seems to retain the update.

I'll have a go with all your suggestions and let you know.

All sounds complicated though. With all my other USB devices, I just plug them in and they work...

Regards,
Mike.

[96RAF]

Mike70 said:

Thanks Fishamonz for the reply.

One of the things that keeps coming up is the update of E-Link to version 1.04.
It never seems to retain the update.

I'll have a go with all your suggestions and let you know.

All

sounds complicated though. With all my other USB devices, I just plug them in and they work...

Regards,
Mike.

In RM main screen bottom right hand corner is the big Red Stop/ Green Start button. If you see a small red button within

this larger button that is a controller reset facilty.

[DEWINNES]

Mike70 said:

I've had an e-link unit for a while now. But I have never really got round to using it much until last weekend.

I seemed to spend a lot of time re-booting my computer in an attempt to try and connect it. Railmaster seemed

to go through the motions of trying to connect, then I'd get a message saying that e-link wasn't available when it is quite clearly connected.

Has anyone else had issues with a temperamental e-link?
Would you send it back under the warranty?

Is

there anyway of re-starting the connection process through Railmaster, i.e. without closing the application?

Regards,
Mike.

[DEWINNES]

Hello I have just obtained an ELink and loaded the railmaster software. When I connect the Elink unit it just flashes and no power goes to track to the track. I have checked all the things mentioned and still no joy. The track works fine with a select

 

so it must be elink. Can anyone help

[Mike70]

RAF96 said:

In RM main screen bottom right hand corner is the big Red Stop/ Green Start button. If you see a small red button within this larger button that is a controller reset facilty.

RAF96,

That is useful to know.

Thanks,
Mike.

[Mike70]

DEWINNES said:

Hello I have just obtained an ELink and loaded the railmaster software. When I connect the Elink unit it just flashes and no power goes to track to the track. I have checked all the things mentioned and still no joy. The track

works fine with a select so it must be elink. Can anyone help

Other than trying it on a different computer, I think I'd be tempted to take it back.

Regards,
Mike.

[Fishmanoz]

Before taking it back, I suggest each of you email RM Support from within the Help window of RM. You'll notice that the first things they ask you will be the questions I asked above, particularly administrator rights and blocking by your virus protection,

 

these being the main causes of problems for new users.

 

By the way, easy to check admin rights, just right click on your desktop icon, select Properties, the Compatibility tab and make sure run with admin rights is ticked.

 

And Mike, you didn't

 

actually say that you had checked all the things I asked. You should do so.

[Mike70]

Fishmanoz said:

Before taking it back, I suggest each of you email RM Support from within the Help window of RM. You'll notice that the first things they ask you will be the questions I asked above, particularly administrator rights and blocking

by your virus protection, these being the main causes of problems for new users.

By the way, easy to check admin rights, just right click on your desktop icon, select Properties, the Compatibility tab and make sure run with admin rights is ticked.



And Mike, you didn't actually say that you had checked all the things I asked. You should do so.

Fishamonz,

I've just been doing all the checks tonight.

Firstly I deactivated the software, uninstalled and re-installed as

the administrator.
When I right click the Hornby Railmaster icon and check the compatibility tab in properties, the 'Run This Program As An Administrator' check box is ticked.

I was using the USB cable supplied with the E-Link. But I have just tried

two alternatives. When I open the device manager and select the E-Link serial port, with all three cables it says the device is working properly.

Railmaster is updated to v1.55. I think E-Link is updated to v1.04. But I will come back to that later.

My

anti-virus firewall is now set to 'Allow' Railmaster.

When I checked the Com ports, I noticed that my USB ports have a setting of 5, 6 and 7. So it is possible I've been connected to Com ports 6 and 7 in the past. As a precaution, I have changed the

USB with the Com port 5 setting to Com port 1.

The settings in the Com port match the settings in E-Link settings. I.e. 19200 bits, data bits 8, parity none, stop bits 1.

But it is still temperamental.

With regard to the firmware version.

Sometimes when I try to run Railmaster, it tries to connect to E-Link, then it says it is trying to update firmware to version 1.04 and it eventually fails.

I tried to update the firmware manually using the elink104 file and initially got the message

'Error in open the Port!'. I then powered down and tried again using elink104 and it seemed to suggest that the firmware was already at version 1.04.

I have had E-Link connected since reloading Railmaster and checking the settings. But I can't get it

to connect anymore. The only way it will connect is if I turn everything off and back on again.

Anymore ideas?

Regards,
Mike.

[Mike70]

Just powered down and back up again and E-Link has connected first time. I then shut down Railmaster and fired it back up straight away and it has connected again.

 

I'll try again in the morning and see how I get on.

[Fishmanoz]

Great it's going Mike.

 

Just a couple of things I'd be checking there. In System Settings, the baud rate is wrong for eLink, it should be 115200. Also, while it seems to be working OK, I'm surprised com port 1 is available and not used by something

 

else. Com port 5 will be fine if you get problems on 1.

 

Just another thing for others - it shouldn't ever be necessary to uninstall and reinstall RM. Even if not installed as administrator, ticking run as administrator as I said in my last post fixes

 

this if not done initially.

[gilbo2]

Are you using a USB3 port (usually has a blue plastic section) on your laptop? These do seem to cause problems with eLink on some systems. If you are, swap to another port, but you will need to identify the new com port for RM under windows device

 

settings if you do.

[Mike70]

Fishmanoz said:

Great it's going Mike.

Just a couple of things I'd be checking there. In System Settings, the baud rate is wrong for eLink, it should be 115200. Also, while it seems to be working OK, I'm surprised com port 1 is available

and not used by something else. Com port 5 will be fine if you get problems on 1.

Just another thing for others - it shouldn't ever be necessary to uninstall and reinstall RM. Even if not installed as administrator, ticking run as administrator as

I said in my last post fixes this if not done initially.

OK, baud rate changed to 115200. I set it at 19200 because of the following statement on page 14 of the Railmaster 1.55 Guide;

"Ensure that the BAUD rate, data bits, parity, stop

bits and flow control are set as 19200, 8,
None, 1, None. The eLink can work at the higher BAUD rate of 115200."

I thought the lower BAUD rate might be a more cautious approach.

Similarly, there is a comment on page 15 of the same guide which

says;

"If the COM port number is high (above 4) you should change it to a lower number,"

Hence the reason I changed to Com Port 1. But I'm back on Com Port 5 now and it seems to be OK.

The only reason I re-installed was because I wanted

to do everything from scratch and make sure everything was correct.

I'm going to connect up with my rolling road later today and test it with a train connected. Will let you know how I get on.

Last week I had it connected up to Sparrowhawk and

I noticed that Sparrowhawk did not run particularly well. Just sounded like something was catching the track. Could this be down to the settings? Will find out later today I suppose. Might just need lubricating.

With regard to the USB cable, did you

effectively bin the one supplied with E-Link? I've got three available, the one supplied with E-Link and two supplied with scanners/printers. Might invest in a posh one if I get anymore problems.

Thanks for all your help Fishamonz. Sorry if I come

across as an impatient £ugger at times.

Regards,
Mike.

[Mike70]

dgilbert2 said:

Are you using a USB3 port (usually has a blue plastic section) on your laptop? These do seem to cause problems with eLink on some systems. If you are, swap to another port, but you will need to identify the new com port for

RM under windows device settings if you do.

Do you mean a blue plastic surround on the USB port? Haven't got any of them and it seems to be working OK now. Thanks for the suggestion.

Regards,
Mike.

[RB51]

Mike70 said:

With regard to the USB cable, did you effectively bin the one supplied with E-Link? I've got three available, the one supplied with E-Link and two supplied with scanners/printers. Might invest in a posh one if I get anymore problems.

I had similar problems to those you are describing and sent the unit back to Hornby. They couldn't get it to go wrong (typical) but we did discover that the USB cable supplied with E-link was faulty. They replaced it FOC. R-

[gilbo2]

Mike70 said:

Do you mean a blue plastic surround on the USB port? Haven't got any of them and it seems to be working OK now. Thanks for the suggestion.

Regards,
Mike.

Yes I, blue plastic in the usb socket itself.

Sounds like this is not your problem.

[Mike70]

Just tested Sparrowhawk on the rolling road. It is still a little noisy. I'm wondering if the linkage is catching itself.

 

One thing I didn't mention before was that the direction settings were all wrong the last time I tested it. I.e. it went forwards

 

instead of backwards. This time the wiring between e-link and the track was exactly the same, but the loco ran in the correct direction.

 

Regards,

Mike.

[Graskie]

It's very easy to absent-mindedly (doesn't include me, of course!) pick a loco up by its motion parts, which can easily cause some of it to then bend sufficiently enough to clash with other nearby parts. I've had the odd loco in that state and have found

 

the best way is to turn it upside down, from which angle you can more easily see whether there is any problem. It's then not too difficult to gently rearrange things as they should be. I think a loco falling off the track can also cause this problem. A good

 

oiling also helps, but not too much.......as has been said on here many times. Of course, it is possible that, if you can see no applied oil, your oil container is empty (lol). Failing that possibility you'll have to open the loco up to check things inside

 

which might be causing your problem.

[Mike70]

Graskie said:

It's very easy to absent-mindedly (doesn't include me, of course!) pick a loco up by its motion parts, which can easily cause some of it to then bend sufficiently enough to clash with other nearby parts. I've had the odd loco

in that state and have found the best way is to turn it upside down, from which angle you can more easily see whether there is any problem. It's then not too difficult to gently rearrange things as they should be. I think a loco falling off the track can also

cause this problem. A good oiling also helps, but not too much.......as has been said on here many times. Of course, it is possible that, if you can see no applied oil, your oil container is empty (lol). Failing that possibility you'll have to open the loco

up to check things inside which might be causing your problem.

I might have a trip to TMC where I bought it from. They said they would be happy to look at it, as it is still under warranty.

I'd like to pay them a visit at some point

anyway and get my Commonwealth Of Australia A4 blinged up with red name plate etc.

[Graskie]

Let's know what transpires, Mike.

[Mike70]

Graskie said:

Let's know what transpires, Mike.

Will do. Might be a few weeks though.

Just had a look at the underside. Nothing appears to be out of place or bent.

I'm normally pretty careful handling the locos.

I tend to pick them up using the footplate... But you never know!

[Mike70]

Just had Sparrowhawk running on the rolling road before I took in back to the shop.

It seemed fine tonight.

 

The shop I got it from is a good drive and I haven't really got the time to go there.

So it would be good if I could avoid the journey.

 

I

 

think I'll set my layout up at some point and give it another run.

 

My e-link is also working first time every time now.

 

[CatmanStu]

My E-link has suddenly stopped working. It refused to start with just the green light flashing. It has worked well up to now as far as it goes. My point is nothing had changed one day it worked the next nothing.

Stuart

[Fishmanoz]

Sounds like you have a faulty eLink for return under warranty Catman. To confirm, suggest you email RM Support from within the Help window of RM and see what they think.