Railmaster DCC / Elink problems

[Fishmanoz]

I think you see now Hans that re-installing is not necessary for software problems, most of those problems being bugs that HRMS is doing a great job fixing. 

However, if you decide to re-install for whatever reason, or more likely move your licensed copy from one machine to another, all you have to do is deactivate before and reactivate after. Just go to where your activation code is shown in the Help window and you will see how to do it.

And if reinstalling, don't forget to first save all of your locos, programs, track plans etc before you do. ProPack now has a feature to do this for you. 

[Yorkshire Paulman]

I'm also constantly getting the error message "the elink interface failed the handshake test" after starting up Railmaster and eLink.This is happening on two separate laptops, after a couple of resets unplugging the power to the eLink and also the USB cable then restarting Railmaster it then recognises the device and all is well for a while until it will simply fail to respond and again requires the power cable and USB cable unplugging.

Both laptops are running Windows 7 Professional that have no known issues with any other software, only Railmaster 

Please do not advise sending an email to Railmaster Help with the suggestion that they take over my laptops because that is not going to happen due to work restrictions, I would like that they resolve this in the forum so as to help others in the same predicament as myself

The software is also not very user friendly I might add, and the GUI wouldn't be out of place on a ZX Spectrum, this is 2015 and I would have expected a lot better in all honesty

[Fishmanoz]

Doesn't seem to be anything much you like about RM from your recent posts YP.

 

From extensive experience of the people facing similar problems on here over the last 18 months, the chances are there is something wrong with your setup, on both machines.

 

And still the best advice is to email RM Support from within the Help window of RM.  I can't see any problem with telling them you have a work situation which precludes remote login.  And I'm sure they will still be able to help, it will just take a little longer for them to go through the tried and tested fault finding routine with you.

[Yorkshire Paulman]

Doesn't seem to be anything much you like about RM from your recent posts YP.

 

From extensive experience of the people facing similar problems on here over the last 18 months, the chances are there is something wrong with your setup, on both machines.

 

And still the best advice is to email RM Support from within the Help window of RM.  I can't see any problem with telling them you have a work situation which precludes remote login.  And I'm sure they will still be able to help, it will just take a little longer for them to go through the tried and tested fault finding routine with you.

 

No, there isn't a great deal I like about it. I have in the past contacted Railmaster Support on another issue, only to be told that I should read the instructions as nobody else had problems and therefore they were sufficient. Well diddly-dee, how stupid of me. The fact that the instructions didn't actually include what I wanted to resolve I guess is just another nail in the coffin for this so called software if they cannot address the simplest of support requests

 

Admin edit: Removed second paragraph as it was, quite frankly, rude. You are entitled to your opinions and to express them here but please do not be rude to other Forum members.

[Yelrow]

I feel i must comment here, as Railmaster support have moved heaven and earth on numerous occasions, to help fellow posters, with problems, many of their own making. The normal solution when all else fails, is for them to take over the posters computer, and without fail, put problem right. Here they are not being allowed to do so, which would appear to indicate that fault is not attributable to them. It sometimes takes a  removal and re installation to  put matters right. It certainly did in my case. john

[Yorkshire Paulman]

What a load of utter tosh. The problem lies down to the fact that Railmaster simply is not compatible with Windows 7, hence why they state that it has to be run in Administrator mode. The only way to alleviate this is to run it in Windows XP mode, and even then it is unstable.

 

The developers need to think out of the Win 98 box and completely redesign this software from the ground up for what is the year 2015.

 

You can all whitter on all you like about how good the support is, well I have paid money for this software and product, and my experience is the support is lacking solely because the product is lacking and there is no known solution for many of the errors I have read about on here.

 

The fact is that in 2015 when support for Win XP has been officially discontinued then Railmaster should not be selling software that was designed for such an old OS. They have had ample opportunity today to address my concerns and problems, yet they choose not to. I think that says it all really and I wish I had never bought the Hornby DCC system.

 

I read on here just today that even if I were to sell it, then the Railmaster licence is not transferrable to a new owner. It is a complete joke setup. No doubt their response will be to ban me from this forum rather than to show that they are actually trying to provide decent customer support and backup

 

[RB51]

Oh dear Yorkshire Paulman - you do seem to have "painted yourself into a corner" here. I am at a loss as to what anyone on here can say to help with your problems. As has been said many times the issues are usually to do with the laptop/e-link set-up and that will be a suitation unique to you - if you dont want to be helped with that then there is nothing anyone can do. If you are able to find a small gap in your busy workload to let Hornby log in to your laptop I am sure it can be sorted out. However if your are not going to allow that to happen then..... R-

[Yorkshire Paulman]

 If you are able to find a small gap in your busy workload to let Hornby log in to your laptop I am sure it can be sorted out. However if your are not going to allow that to happen then..... R-

With suggestions like that, who needs help. It is not my choosing, it is company policy not to allow others access to it due to the sensitive nature of the data that is stored on there.

 

 

I am fully aware that the issue is 'with my laptop', because it is running Win 7 and the software was designed for Win XP ( I am being generous there, it still looks like it was designed for a ZX Spectrum)

 

Quite frankly, I don't want help, the support has proved to be atrocious so I am merely offering my opinion on what is an awful bit of kit, and if I deter just one person from buying this software before they address all these problems, then I will have at least recouped the money I have wasted on it. 

 

 

 

[96RAF]

 If you are able to find a small gap in your busy workload to let Hornby log in to your laptop I am sure it can be sorted out. However if your are not going to allow that to happen then..... R-

With suggestions like that, who needs help. It is not my choosing, it is company policy not to allow others access to it due to the sensitive nature of the data that is stored on there.

 

 

I am fully aware that the issue is 'with my laptop', because it is running Win 7 and the software was designed for Win XP ( I am being generous there, it still looks like it was designed for a ZX Spectrum)

 

Quite frankly, I don't want help, the support has proved to be atrocious so I am merely offering my opinion on what is an awful bit of kit, and if I deter just one person from buying this software before they address all these problems, then I will have at least recouped the money I have wasted on it. 

 

 

 

 

I am generally loath to comment on raves, but in this case I must.

I find it very strange that 'your Company rules' won't allow remote access to help you with RM, but they are happy to let you use the laptop to play trains on.

No further comment.

[Yelrow]

I to am running wi ndows 7, its not that ,thats the problem, nor is it the superb quality of support from Hornby. nor the product, which we are all very happy with There is only one thing left. .............john

[Yorkshire Paulman]

I to am running wi ndows 7, its not that ,thats the problem, nor is it the superb quality of support from Hornby. nor the product, which we are all very happy with There is only one thing left. .............john

But that's the point, isn't it? Not everybody is happy with it, as the many posts on this forum suggest.

[RB51]

The point YP is - it's got nothing to do with Windows 7. R-

[Yorkshire Paulman]

The point YP is - it's got nothing to do with Windows 7. R-

So why is it then that it works better when run in XP Compatibility mode?

[Bulver]

It is apparent that this user is determined to bad-mouth what is a very good software package, being used by a multitude of people , utilising Windows in every format from XP to 8.1.  To suggest that the graphics are dated is juvenile, The problem appears to be user rather than software, and is insurmountable in face of the intransigence exhibited.

[Yorkshire Paulman]

It is apparent that this user is determined to bad-mouth what is a very good software package, being used by a multitude of people , utilising Windows in every format from XP to 8.1.  To suggest that the graphics are dated is juvenile, The problem appears to be user rather than software, and is insurmountable in face of the intransigence exhibited.

To suggest that the graphics are dated is spot on and don't you kid yourself - is there any reason why they couldn't create a GUI that resembles AnyRail or even SCARM? Lack of development is the reason why

[RB51]

@ Bulver = Blimey - wish I'd thought of that. Well said.

@ YP - give it up mate. We're all losing. R-

[St1ngr4y]

 If you are able to find a small gap in your busy workload to let Hornby log in to your laptop I am sure it can be sorted out. However if your are not going to allow that to happen then..... R-

With suggestions like that, who needs help. It is not my choosing, it is company policy not to allow others access to it due to the sensitive nature of the data that is stored on there.

 

 

I am fully aware that the issue is 'with my laptop', because it is running Win 7 and the software was designed for Win XP ( I am being generous there, it still looks like it was designed for a ZX Spectrum)

 

Quite frankly, I don't want help, the support has proved to be atrocious so I am merely offering my opinion on what is an awful bit of kit, and if I deter just one person from buying this software before they address all these problems, then I will have at least recouped the money I have wasted on it. 

 

 

 

 

I am generally loath to comment on raves, but in this case I must.

I find it very strange that 'your Company rules' won't allow remote access to help you with RM, but they are happy to let you use the laptop to play trains on.

No further comment.

I quite agree, RAF. In my last job before retirement, I had a company laptop which was intended solely for me to provide out-of-hours support to my company's mainframe. It would have been a sackable offence if I had dared to load unauthorised software onto it.

[Yelrow]

Most of the posts have been due to  lack of knowledge  wrong use of firewall.    Every one to my knowledge has been successfully resolved   either by a fellow poster or by Hornby support. In this case you   do not want to avail yourself of either. There is little more that  we can do except to endorse a very good well supported product  John .

 

[Yorkshire Paulman]

@ Bulver = Blimey - wish I'd thought of that. Well said.

@ YP - give it up mate. We're all losing. R-

You wish you'd said it was supported from XP to Win 8? I have news for you, Hornby claim Windows 98, XP, 2000,

Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 are supported.

 

Who knew, huh?

[Yorkshire Paulman]

 If you are able to find a small gap in your busy workload to let Hornby log in to your laptop I am sure it can be sorted out. However if your are not going to allow that to happen then..... R-

With suggestions like that, who needs help. It is not my choosing, it is company policy not to allow others access to it due to the sensitive nature of the data that is stored on there.

 

 

I am fully aware that the issue is 'with my laptop', because it is running Win 7 and the software was designed for Win XP ( I am being generous there, it still looks like it was designed for a ZX Spectrum)

 

Quite frankly, I don't want help, the support has proved to be atrocious so I am merely offering my opinion on what is an awful bit of kit, and if I deter just one person from buying this software before they address all these problems, then I will have at least recouped the money I have wasted on it. 

 

 

 

 

I am generally loath to comment on raves, but in this case I must.

I find it very strange that 'your Company rules' won't allow remote access to help you with RM, but they are happy to let you use the laptop to play trains on.

No further comment.

I quite agree, RAF. In my last job before retirement, I had a company laptop which was intended solely for me to provide out-of-hours support to my company's mainframe. It would have been a sackable offence if I had dared to load unauthorised software onto it.

Clearly you were just a minnow in the company then, being a manager I have authorisation to install software on it - hence why I have Admin rights on it - duh!!!!

[Bulver]

It is apparent that this user is determined to bad-mouth what is a very good software package, being used by a multitude of people , utilising Windows in every format from XP to 8.1.  To suggest that the graphics are dated is juvenile, The problem appears to be user rather than software, and is insurmountable in face of the intransigence exhibited.

To suggest that the graphics are dated is spot on and don't you kid yourself - is there any reason why they couldn't create a GUI that resembles AnyRail or even SCARM? Lack of development is the reason why

Excuse me, I am not kidding myself, or anyone else, and I reiterate my comments re graphics. I have looked at AnyRail, which appears to be a design package, .  So, it would appear you have to use a further 3rd party program to run your layout

[Yorkshire Paulman]

But you are kidding yourself.

[St1ngr4y]

@ Bulver = Blimey - wish I'd thought of that. Well said.

@ YP - give it up mate. We're all losing. R-

You wish you'd said it was supported from XP to Win 8? I have news for you, Hornby claim Windows 98, XP, 2000,

Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 are supported.

 

Who knew, huh?

Maybe Hornby believe that there are Railmaster users who are still using these earlier versions of Windows, and to cater for them, their only alternative is to run the software in "Compatability Mode" on the later versions of Windows.

Hornby could incorporate a check into the software which will notify them of each users OS version. Presumably, they must have a database containing all of the registration keys in use. They could then interrogate the results to see if there are still users of XP and earlier.

Ray

[Bulver]

But you are kidding yourself.

In what way?  Your argument appears to be in danger of being self-destroying.  Slagging other forum members off is not appropriate or adult

[St1ngr4y]

 I am generally loath to comment on raves, but in this case I must.

I find it very strange that 'your Company rules' won't allow remote access to help you with RM, but they are happy to let you use the laptop to play trains on.

No further comment.

I quite agree, RAF. In my last job before retirement, I had a company laptop which was intended solely for me to provide out-of-hours support to my company's mainframe. It would have been a sackable offence if I had dared to load unauthorised software onto it.

Clearly you were just a minnow in the company then, being a manager I have authorisation to install software on it - hence why I have Admin rights on it - duh!!!!

I would have hated to be a minnow with you as a manager, pal