Is RailMaster finished?

[jhmkarisma]

Been using Railmaster and E link for several years now and built up a large layout with about 70 locos, 20 DCC. I have about 20 points controlled with Railmaster I also have propack. I have spent a lot of money on point decoders, dcc locos, many sound equipped. I now have a problem with running RM and for several months have been trying to get help from within the program but am not getting any replies. It appears to me that Railmaster is finished. It would cost me a small fortune to abandon railmaster and E link for some other system. but with no back up this is probably what i will have to do. Hornby is certainly no longer one of the top runners in model railways, at least not with DCC control

[96RAF]

How odd that there are many hundreds if not thousands of happy RM users who never have a moments trouble with it.

We see the same problems crop up on the forum on a regular basis and the majority of these are finger trouble in that the user has not set their system up correctly per the vast amount of exacting and correct advice posted on this forum.

One overarching thing we see time and again is overseas ISPs blocking access to HRMS and RM.

It is noted that you have not listed the exact problems you are having in order for the forum to give advice. You say you have been using RM for years, so what has changed to give you problems.

[BigNoj]

I’m guessing it could be the 1amp power supply.

[Fishmanoz]

Are you running the latest version? If not, that’s the first thing to fix.

No replies to help requests to HRMS from inside the program - are you getting the immediate auto-acknowledgement? If not, Rob’s blocked ISP suggestion is most likely.

If your ISP is blocked, that may be causing other problems like downloading updates and anything requiring comms back to the RM servers.

But please do tell us exactly what your problems are so we can do some more diagnosis for you. Think about what changed when your problems first started as that can give clues.

[RDS]

I am disappointed for you that you cannot get a response because one thing I have found with Hornby RailMaster Support (HRMS) over the years is that the after sales support has been fantastic and many times, well out of office hours.

When you are able to explain your problem I am sure that more help will be forthcoming on here and after all you need to be able to do that to get help from HRMS.

You can email HRMS directly on: support@rail-master.com

[Chrissaf]

Speaking from personal experience I have yet to be let down by my dealings with HRMS. I have found them responsive [replies within an hour] and have consistently resolved my issue, even if done by "remote access login".

When I contact HRMS I make a point of providing copious amounts of information. Sometimes with suggestions of what I think is wrong or needed to fix it. It would not suprise me if very vague or incomplete information presentation help requests are put to the bottom of the pile. In all things 'help request related' you have to help HRMS (and us) to help you by providing quality information to work from.

If something looks like an easy fix, because the information provided helps to provide a probable diagnosis, then that help request is more likely to generate a more rapid response.

[Roger-378602]

For three weeks now I have tried to contact support .Have had 2 replies asking for details of problem.Have sent this several times but no response.Will keep trying but not confident.

[RDS]

I sent an email to RailMaster support after 10pm on the 11th January and received a response that solved the issue I was experiencing, just after 3pm the following day (12th)

Excellent support as usual but if the question requires more thought and effort it is bound to take longer.

I don't think there is any point sending the same information 'several times'. Just give them a reasonable amount of time to respond.

[LMS_Fan]

An very odd weekend.

Having picked-up a couple of Fairburn heavy tanks, a Class 3F and 2P with my Christmas money, I popped in the DCC chips and lined my new locos up for programming on Saturday afternoon. I then booted-up the old Windows XP notebook that I have dedicated for this task, plugged in the eLink unit and double-clicked Railmaster. That's where it all began going south.

It seems as if my eLink is a duffer - that's not the first time; I'm now on my third and ordered-up number 4 yesterday. However, what has really confused me is that I can't get the http://www.rail-master.com/rm_setup.exe link to work for downloading the Railmaster package. I also couldn't login to my Hornby account which wasn't a massive problem and was sorted this afternoon via e-mail recovery.

For the Railmaster URL I tried everything. Turning off the AntiVirus completely, using a different ISP, attempting to access the site via both Windows and Apple OS.

Fortunately, I unearthed a previous downloaded update for RailMaster and have a spare activation code. It installed fine but, when I tried to activate, I got that infamous error code that indicates no Internet connection. I tried the same thing across 4 machines running Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 10. All of them installed the Evaluation copy but none of them activated. I even tried to deregister a second installed Railmaster copy I had on a Windows 7 laptop that I use for layout operations - same problem, couldn't reach Railmaster online. I'd re-emphasise here that I swapped across ISPs and turned of AntiVirus on all the installation attempts and the deactivation attempt. I even uninstalled the AntiVirus on one of my XP machines.

Anyone else having problems?

[P-Henny]

The RM installer downloads fine for me (just tried it before posting). It always has done. I just don't see the issues others report on this forum. I don't use Windows Defender, if that has a bearing. I use ESET for my AV and still using W10, not 11 with Firefox.

The very occasional odd occasion my RM communication is blocked, I find rebooting my BB router to clear its DNS Cache then also rebooting the PC restores full connectivity.

Given you are experiencing this across multiple platforms, your BB router could be the common denominator. Worth at least trying a full system reboot ... router & devices ... if only to discount it.

[96RAF]

Earlier today I emailed HRMS to see if they were having comms problems and I receieved a reply within a couple of hours. No comms problems at their end and the last communication they had with anyone in the past few days was a direct email not thru' the RM built-in reporting system.

I cannot understate the importance of using the inbuilt reporting as it sends important files along with your problem description, all to aid their investigation.

They also stated that the long awaited maintenance update is undergoing final testing and should be released shortly.

[gilbo2]

I just tried to download and it failed, "virus detected". This is using Chrome and Windows Defender, which has already been set to allow what it thinks is the hacking virus. Chrome used to offer the option to download anyway, but its not doing now. Will try other browsers later.

Edit: Works with Firefox, nothing flagged up at all.

[Dave-379156]

@P-Henny, @96RAF and @gilbo2. Many, many thanks for taking the time to look at this for me.

Remembered an old XP PC with Firefox and without any AV that was lurking under the workbench, so gave that a try and it failed on there too.

My simple follow-on diagnostic method was to disconnect one of my iPhones from the wireless in the residence and then enter the Railmaster download link in to Safari. This succeeded and put a copy of the exe file in my iPhone downloads folder. I then reconnected the iPhone to the wireless and copied across the exe to one of the NASs.

Now convinced that it's a router issue and waiting for the Long Haired General to get off Teams so that I can reboot it. Hopefully that will sort out the problem so that I can then activate the downloaded Evaluation software. A new eLink unit is inbound and should be here by the coming weekend; includes yet another Railmaster license!

So, it's all looking very promising.

Would be a shame to part company with Railmaster after so long. Although, I have to confess, with the Brat now past the Raspberry Pi phase, the SPROG / JRMI path may be a way of making use of the box load of stuff that he's left in Stores.

Will let you know how I get on if I make any noteworthy progress.

[96RAF]

TGG is an alternative as it can use 1 or 2 eLinks as controllers and can import existing RM stuff.

[Dave-379156]

Another few hours today...

So, it wasn't, quite, the router config. At least not the software settings.

I use a 5G service for my Internet on an EE data-only no-contract arrangement. I know this sounds slightly barking but we have no fibre in our village and 5G wipes the pants off the copper offerings. I also have an O2/Tesco 4G PAYG for my iPhone which is patchy but generally works OK in the garden, the workshop and on the 2nd floor of the residence.

Having tinkered with the 5G router settings and got nowhere, I tried swapping over the EE SIM for the O2/Tesco one in the workshop. Stone the crows! I got the RailMaster setup file to download straight off using Edge on Windows 10. I mean, I then got the usual foxtrot about rm_setup.exe was blocked as unsafe by Microsoft Defender SmartScreen and, after I'd switched that off, the AVG AntiVirus quarantine tango, but I was eventually able to download rm_setup.exe, run and do an install. I then got the RailMaster "Key was not downloaded correctly" rhumba, but maybe that's because I hadn't uninstalled that license I was using from another machine.

So, it looks as if there is something going on in the EE 5G network. I had a look at my EE user account but, other than handing over cash, it's pretty limited as to what you can do on it. My guess is that EE 5G must connect-in to a backbone at some point and there's probably a firewall in that connection and/or DNS setting that may be interfering with the http://www.rail-master.com/ bit.

The catch is EE give me the best 5G bandwidth of all the networks I can access from the residence. Clearly, the O2/Tesco one works on 4G but I get really patchy signal strength and there's very marginal 5G signal so it's quite slow. I've tried Vodaphone in the past, but never again. Not only was the Vodaphone 5G coverage non-existent, but their "no contract" arrangement required a Direct Debit and, having taken 8kB of data off their lousy 4G, proved as easy to get rid of as a dose.

Anyway, to keep within the scope of the thread, happy to confirm what we already know - RailMaster isn't finished - as in dead that is...

[mr2002]

R8312 eLink, with Railmaster Software is now listed in the "Last Chance to Buy" section on the Hornby website.

As they say, "Hurry, these ... won't be available for long. Get them now before they're gone for good."

[Fishmanoz]

Off topic of course but seems strange that Hornby would cease any manufacture of the cheapest DCC power option for HM7000 decoders and there is a major update to RM in the works.

[ColinB]

You would have thought with the advent of the Bluetooth dongle R8312 eLink would be very useful, does it not do Xpressnet? Looking at the HM7000 app's screen, I do wonder if Hornbys long term plan is to port Railmaster there.

[P-Henny]

.......does it not do Xpressnet?

 

 

No .... it does not.

[ColinB]

Oh that explains a lot, so it only has a USB interface. I can see why it is obsolete then.

[96RAF]

Oh that explains a lot, so it only has a USB interface. I can see why it is obsolete then.

 

 

Obsolete but not finished...

The eLink pcb has provision for the components required to install and enable an Xpressnet RJ port.

I robbed the necessary parts from other dead units that use these common components and modified mine. The blocker was an update needed to the eLink firmware to turn the comms on.

Thus having proved the pudding as it were...

What is needed to support DCC from the app is an eLink equivalent dumb box but with built in bluetooth then the dongle will only be needed for Elite/Select. With that dumb box the app could power the track and control existing DCC locos cheaper than having to shell out for a fully capable controller.

 

 

[LTSR_NSE]

What is needed to support DCC from the app is… a …dumb box the app could power the track and control existing DCC locos…

 

 

Maybe the HM6000 box could be given a HM|DCC specific firmware update to provide this facility?

If its circuit board were capable, its two track outputs would be ideal for programming & main!

[ColinB]

From what you are saying 96RAF Hornby did what we used to do with van radios use the same circuit board but depopulate the components (cheap vans didn't used to have a comms interface for the radio). Mind you 3 devices to support plus the HM7000, you can see why they would want to get rid of it. They should have done what Fleishmann did, bin their old devices and merge them to a new design.