1.56 didn't work for me, any top tips?

[RobOO]

Hi, I have had loads of problems in the past, some of which turned out to be due to my faultly Elite, however, I was informed on Sunday that there is an update available (1.56) so I downloaded it and installed it. You know the rest!

Everything worked fine before but after the instalation I've had nothing. I've checked the COM ports, downloaded the driver/reinstalled and run as administrator but no joy. I'm running it on a dedicated laptop running windows 7.

Any help before I go to the official help route will be appreciated.

[St1ngr4y]

Try to tell us more specifically what happens when you try to load Railmaster

Ray

[RobOO]

Everything seems ok, except the trains don't run. I don't get any "couldn't find DCC controller" or anything else.

[St1ngr4y]

In the Railmaster folder, there is a file called LOG.TXT. Have a look in there with Notepad to see if you can glean anything. Are you still using an Elite and have you tried resetting that? Can you run trains directly from the Elite?

Ray

[Fishmanoz]

Have you made sure you have RM as an exception in your virus software?  Check the Rm am guide installed on your desktop on how to do this for your software. 

Then if still no joy, email RM Support from within the Help window of RM. They will fix it for you in short order. 

[RobOO]

I'm not back home until Friday so can't actually physically do anything until then; however I'm not running any virus software on the laptop thats running RM, thats all it does. The Elite works fine on it own running the trains, I haven't reset it though.

[Fishmanoz]

Can't see any reason to reset the Elite if it is working fine. Just email RM support when you get home. 

[Augustus Caesar]

Simple I know... but make sure the cables from the Elite are connected to Track and not Prog(ram)... happened before... :-)

[RobOO]

It's definately not the connection to the track. Everything was working with RM before the new upgrade was installed. Thanks for all the ideas/tips though so far. Nice to learn from others experience. I have emailed support through hotmail, but not had a reply yet. That was on Monday. Will send a message by RM on Friday if I've still not had a reply.

[milnes50]

i've had the same problem with this update, before everything worked perfectly now RM wont change the correct points ie point 8 now changes point 11 and so forth but they work correctly from my elite controller i'm out of ideas as to what to do now

any ideas people

[Fishmanoz]

Yes, email RM Support from within the Help window of RM. 

Rob, you can't have emailed them at support@rail-master.com via your hotmail or they would have been back to you much faster, suspect you emailed HCC? And much better to email from within RM than even that email address as it also sends them a lot of configuration info about your setup. 

[Yelrow]

Fishy, your right of course, but am in correspodence with hornby, as i have it in writing that you DO NOT NEED INTERNET CONNECTION WITH RAILMASTERI. This was the whole purpose of my question, before i located my layout, and i am not alone in this. you can take your layout to exhibitions, no internet needed. Only today, support told me internet was necessary. This is not a rant, but  it was misleading in the first place. . Yes, you can cart it all within range, but had they been up front in the first place, it would have been better. Each time they remotely connect they say try it now, i cant, i am at least 50 foot away from the layout.  This is why some people, like me, email, rather than use the one in RM. just thought i would explain, john

[Graskie]

There seems to be a bit of confusion here, John, for me anyway. Hornby were originally correct in saying you do not need an internet connection (to actually just run RM.) If you wish to contact Hornby, do any updates etc, you need to be connected one way or another, unless it is possible to download from onother on-line PC elsewhere by using a memory stick and transferring the update that way. I just think that a wireless hub should solve your problem, provided, of course, that your railway PC is within transmission distance, although that could be placed anywhere to suit.

[Yelrow]

Graskie, there is no way of connecting to my laptop, either by cable or wireless. I have had  on site visits, and my wifi hub cannot be placed to reach both locations due to thickness of walls, nor will a booster work. Wiring is out of the question. Yes i can use a memory stick, of course these things are   potions, but i specifically asked prior to purchase, about this and was assured no permanent connection necessary. Today Hornby support tell me it is necessary .   the point i was making to fishy is that i am not alone , in this position, thats why people are contacting hornby in other ways, instead of sending through railmaster. To my knowledge you cant do that with a memory stick. I am not grumpy about it, just think the goalposts have been moved, due to all this updating. It has taken so long, and several take overs of my machine, here in france, to get the elink RM right, that i do not want to keep unplugging and carting laptop about., risking new problems. As you rightly said ORIGINALLY CORRECT, john

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

There seems to be a great deal of confusion among a small number of users as to what the Internet communications requirements of RailMaster are.  To clarify once again:-

1. You NEED an Internet connection to activate and deactivate RailMaster, the HandHeld app and the Pro-Pack

2. You do NOT need an internet connection to run RailMaster.  We have never said that a permanent connection is NEEDED, merely advisable as it just makes life easier when it comes to being notified of automatic updates and downloading them.

3. You can manually download and install updates even if your RailMaster PC is NOT connected to the Internet.  As already explained, simply download the setup file on another PC which IS connected to the Internet, copy it onto a USB memory stick and you can then run the setup from the USB memory stick on your RailMaster PC.

4. You NEED an Internet connection if you are going to send a Help Request from within RailMaster, however you can also send normal emails, from a different PC.

Obviously, life is made easier if your RailMaster PC is connected to the Internet, however it is NOT essential, other than for activating and deactivating.  Life is also made easier by sending us Help Requests as this is superior to sending ordinary emails however it is NOT essential.

Bottom line:  You do NOT need an Internet connection to set up and operate your railway.  It is simply recommended for the reasons mentioned above.

We have been consistent in stating the above and never "Moved the goal posts" on Internet connection requirements.  It states on the packaging, and always has done, that an Internet connection is required to activate, therefore it follows that an Internet connection is required to deactivate too, if you should wish to do that.  Most users do not need to do this.

We hope this post finally clarifies, in clear and simple terms, the Internet connectivity requirements of RailMaster.

[Graskie]

Thanks, HRMS, that's confirms what I said or was trying to say. In your circumstances, John, I'm afraid that's it. The only answer for you seems to be to connect your railway PC to your internet one way or another. Is wiring a total no no? I'd love to see you get it sorted because I know what's it's like not to be as mobile at our age with the restrictions of certain health conditions.

[Fishmanoz]

John,while this exchange and particularly HRMS's clarification above have been useful, you have come in on this thread only lately and my last post was particularly for Rob who started the thread and milne.  Notice Rob reported on page 1 being away from his RM machine and emailing with Hotmail, but then not having a reply for days. This is more the case if he emailed HCC not RM support, hence my advice above. Then Milne reported similarly.  I'm not at all complaining about your coming in, just clarifying the context of my advice. 

I'm well aware of your situation and have given you previous advice consistent with it to use a memory stick to transfer rm_setup.exe to your RM machine. And let me say again that running the latest version of this file, which you need to download regularly at present, will not undo anything that RM Support has done for you to fix your setup. It will only update the program itself and leave alone everything they did, and everything you have done on locos and layouts too. 

But I suspect your situation is not quite so black and white as you have put it. You've said there is 50' and thick walls between your internet connection and your RM PC, and that you don't want to run wires between. I can understand that on a permanent basis, but what about temporary wiring?  Given you are able to walk from one to the other, surely you can take a cable with you to make the internet connection, then put that cable away when you are finished?

If such temporary wiring  is a possibility, tell us more about how your internet connection is made - what wires are connected to what, and what bits of hardware you have between your initial  connection point and you PC - and we will be able to tell you how you might go about it.  And whether you have wifi in the vicinity of that connection. 

[gilbo2]

Powerline adapters are another option to get internet into the loft, one next to the router, one up in the loft. They transmit over the house mains wiring and you connect to the powerline adapter by a standard ethernet cable.

There is always a way these days.

[96RAF]

John

50' seems to be a reasonable WiFi link possibility, given radio permeable walls, etc.

I've sucessfully WiFi'd 50m across a busy road to a neighbours house using a 'coke can AE booster' with my Netgear adapter before I got my broadband installed.

Knowing French electrics from caravanning trips it is unlikely that your train area is on the same circuit as your pc so Powerline adapters may not work, however a WiFi booster probably would.

More expense though to drain your pension.

[Yelrow]

RAF96, greetings, correct, not a prayer of using Powerline, great in uk, but, this is france. Had 3 companies down to look at wifi. They were surprised, given my remote location, i even had the internet speed i had.Took one look at the thickness of walls, and a lot of head shaking. They tried all their boosters, but gave up. A very long ethernet cable, was their only solution. Needs to go through 5 upstair rooms, then along a landing, downstairs, and through 3 more rooms... Problem , here, is providers, We use SFR. Our kitchen wall contains an enormous bank of lightning conductors, and we have to unplug everything when storms arrive. Even so, we are on our 8th router. Orange is the only other provider, and after a storm, there shop is queued out with people carrying blown routers. Surge protectors, dont.. I am realistic about position, but, all this comes as a shock to the visitor., and is difficult to explain to the other members, suitably equipped, and easily set up. Satilte wifi, is coming, but until then................. I have a very understanding wife, but she draws the line at wires trailing throughout the house. john

[gilbo2]

have you tested for a 3G mobile signal? Just a thought!

[idlemarvel]

@HRMS Can I just check about the Internet requirements for the Android and iOS handheld app.  As I understand it you use Chrome browser to connect to a site on the Internet to download the app.  Is this a one-off exercise or is it necessary to connect and download every time you start the handheld app?  There's a section in the handheld guide that talks about the app being updated frequently as the underlying operating system changes.

[Yelrow]

DGilbert, morning, do you mean a mobile phone signal, cos if so, we have no  mobile signals. Have to leave the house and walk down the road to find one. Estate agent was most put out 12 years ago, when she could not use her mobile, john

[Jailor]

Hi Milnes50. I have updated twice now and the only problem I had was your problem about the point numbers changing. All I had to do was go back into edit for my saved track plan, click on each point and simply change the number, easy. Hope that helps you. Ron.

[HornbyRailMasterSupport]

Once the RailMaster HandHeld app is downloaded and added to the Home Screen (either on Apple or Anrdoid devices) it is then on the device and does not need to be downloaded every time.  If an update for the app becomes available, the app on the device will see this (assuming there is an Internet connection available) and automatically download it.