1.56 = There was a short detected

[wayne_jackson]

I had been running 1.55 up until today under Windows 8.1 Pro on a Lenovo x220T rather well with the odd hiccup.

Since updating to 1.56, it is being reported every few minutes that there was a short detected.  I have been over every millimeter of the layout, hovered it, ran neodinium magnets over the track, and tested it with a multimeter and I cannot find this mythical short that occurs.

So, I ignore it and continue on to the point where RM software will finally say there is a short, then gives up trying to communicate with the eLink - leaving all the locos in running mode to wander around the layout without any control.

At this point it required the power to be removed, the software closed, and the laptop to be rebooted otherwise I am greeted with handshake error, or it unable to open the specified COM port.

Is this something new or is there a glitch?

I am using the eLink with the 4A power supply.

[96RAF]

Wayne

Try disconnecting the eLink from the track and run the update again.

If there truly is a short on the track this will eliminate it for the update purpose and you can then investigate further. It may be as simple as a strand of wire fouling across the eLink terminals or the wires pushed in too far.

[wayne_jackson]

The short error occurred regardless of whether the eLink was attached to the layout or not.  The error message also included a message about the USB communications.  I have used one of my 5A USB cables, but the error message still persisted.

So far I have deregistered the 1.56 install, uninstalled it and trying with 1.55 to see if the error persists.  Might have to flash the eLink back to 1.05 just incase it is a firmware isssue.

[Fishmanoz]

Wayne, good fault-finding if we didn't already know from many other posts that the firmware is ok and v1.56, at least later revisions, also works well. Consequently the fault would seem to be somewhere else. 

So I would suggest you email RM Support from within the Help window of RM after you have reinstalled at v1.56 rev 8 and reregistered. 

[96RAF]

Another possibility is a dodgy USB port at the pc end. Can you try another port or even load RM demo on a different pc/laptop to rule that in/out.

But it sounds to me like the eLink has gone duff.

[wayne_jackson]

After running for a good couple of hours with 1.55 - no error message.

Additionally, I tried baud rates from 9600bps up, and each test ran successfully when compared to the 5 to 10 minutes previously under 1.56.

For the moment I am going to stick with 1.55, but I will email RM support regardless - it is no skin off my nose to cobble together another Windows 8.1 PC to test 1.56