Post by: Jimk33 on February 18, 2017, 12:31:55 PM
However, I cannot get my HC-2 to connect to the RailPro server to download pictures for the locomotives. I also tried creating my own picture, which RailPro Assistant recognized, however, no matter what I do I cannot get the HC-2 to connect. I have tried turning on the HC-2 before and after connecting it to the USB port, but nothing changes. The "USB X Not Connected" window on RailPro Assistant says it is connected no matter what I do, and the "RE=>Internet=>HC" says "ready", but when I press the button the HC "waiting for internet" for about 10 seconds and then says "cannot connect." I can't even get it to load the picture on my computer.
When I set up the HC I put in my first and last name, my email address, and then a password. I'm not sure what the password is for. Am I supposed to set up an account on the RailPro server before downloading or does the HC do that? If I have to set up an account, how do I do that? I can't find anything on the Ring Engineering web site to set up an account.
Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong?
Thanks,
Jim
Post by: William Brillinger on February 18, 2017, 01:07:12 PM
Are you using the latest version (v3.00) of the RailPro Assistant software?
What happens if you go to the setup page and remove the password?
Post by: Jimk33 on February 18, 2017, 01:15:31 PM
Post by: William Brillinger on February 18, 2017, 01:26:08 PM
I've emailed Tim to ask for instructions.
I suggest you try calling Tim for support on this one.
This is a pretty serious issue.
Post by: William Brillinger on February 18, 2017, 02:02:16 PM
Quote
Where does one go to create a new account so they can log in with the RPA software?
Here is his reply:
Quote
Hi Bill,
You no longer need to. RailPro Assistant can do this automatically now.
You just load the RailPro Assistant then put in the information in the RailPro Assistant setup. If it finds no previous account it creates a new one for you.
Tim
Ring Engineering Inc.
Post by: nodcc4me on February 18, 2017, 02:20:56 PM
The old RE internet download page on Ring's website has been removed along with the sign up page. I guess all the downloads are now coming through RPA.
Post by: Jimk33 on February 18, 2017, 05:15:21 PM
Is there a way to tell whether my computer recognized the HC? The connection box in RailPro Assistant says "USB" whether the HC is connected or not. It has never said "non connected" although there are words that say that and are greyed out.
Do I need some type of driver for my computer to recognize the HC? Is there someplace I can go in Windows 10 to see if the HC is connected?
Thanks,
Jim
Post by: nodcc4me on February 18, 2017, 05:24:13 PM
Post by: G8B4Life on February 18, 2017, 09:51:57 PM
There are no special drivers required.
Well there are but these get installed when you install RailPro Assistant.
Jim, just to make sure we're all on the same page, the two screen captures below outline RPA when the HC is detected and connected and when it isn't.
RPA with HC NOT detected (The HC might physically be connected to your pc but RPA can't see it.)
RPA with HC detected and connected.
If you get the second screen (which is sounds that you are not) then all I can really suggest is to keep trying and see what Tim Ring has to say.
If you get the first screen then read on. Firstly we have to determine a couple of things.
1. Are your running 32bit or 64bit Windows 10? (this can make a difference to the drivers)
2. Does your PC have USB 3 ports? (this definitely can make a difference).
First we'll check if Windows has even detected the HC. Please go to http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html) and download the appropriate version (x32 or x64, link is near the bottom of the page) of USB Device View. It is freeware and does not need to be installed; just unzip it and run it.
With your HC plugged in and turned on have a look for FT232R USB UART in the Device Name column, this should be your HC-2b (I am guessing that the HC-2b shows up the same as a HC-2). If it is not there then Windows is not seeing your HC.
If it is there it should look like this in USB Device View (the green "light " and green highlighting tell you that it is connected and turned on):
If it is there right click anywhere on the line that is your HC and select properties from the menu. I'd like you to take a screen capture (press ALT and Print Screen together). Paste the capture into MS Paint or similar, save it and post the image here.
If it is not there then we'll work on that when you get back to us.
- Tim (not from RE).
Post by: MtRR75 on February 18, 2017, 11:32:18 PM
Test your USB port with a flash drive to make sure the port is functional. The Greyed out "Not Connected" is normal when the controller is not plugged in. There are no special drivers required. Does the box near the top of RPA say "Internet Connected" in green?
The flash drive test is an easy one to check first. There are 3 USB ports on the laptop that I was using. I kept getting disconnected mid-file transfer. I switched to another port and the problem went away.
Also, if you have another USB cable with the same ends, try that to see of it is a cable problem.
Post by: Jimk33 on February 20, 2017, 07:28:19 PM
I'm running Windows 10. Both computers have USB3 ports, but the USB port I am using through the KVM is USB2. For what it's worth the HC works connected to my backup computer through a direct USB3 port, but the USB3 port on my primary computer does not work.
I ran USBDeview on both computers and HC-2b appears on both, but I don't see FT232 USB UART on either of them. Screen prints from both my primary computer and backup computer are attached. My primary computer is USBDeview-Primary, my backup computer is USBDeview-BackupComputer. They look the same to me.
I'm running Norton anti virus and had to authorize Railpro to communicate with the internet, but that doesn't seem to be the problem because RailPro shows that it is connected to the server.
Now that I have it working on my backup computer the immediate problem is solved, but the question still remains why won't it work on my main computer?
Thanks,
Jim
Post by: Jimk33 on February 20, 2017, 07:37:26 PM
Thanks Again,
Jim
Post by: KPack on February 20, 2017, 08:01:44 PM
Then suddenly my harddrive catasrophically failed and I was forced to get a new hard drive and reinstall Windows fresh. Problem solved. Everything works perfectly now with the CI-1.
Something in the factory installation of Windows was causing the problem. Computers with Windows pre-installed typically come with a ton of bloat-ware. I removed as much as I could, but apparently there was still something on there that was interfering.
-Kevin
Post by: Jimk33 on February 20, 2017, 08:55:36 PM
I built the computer myself and originally installed Windows 7. When I upgraded I did a clean install on a new hard drive of Windows 10, 64 bit. I keep data on a separate physical drive so I can do a clean install on a new drive without having to move data around. I did the same with the backup computer, but exactly how I did the OS install I'm not sure. In either case, Windows was not pre-installed.
Jim
Post by: G8B4Life on February 21, 2017, 04:21:27 AM
I'm glad to hear that you got it working, if not on your primary pc. The screen caps look good, nothing different other that which port you had it plugged into. I assume you tried it in different ports on your primary pc? It looks like your primary pc has the same case as Kevin did with his CI-1; Windows can see it but nothing can communicate with it. The normal method from here would be to then try without any other USB devices plugged in and then failing that uninstall the USB ports in device manager (or USBDview can do it) and let Windows re-detect and re-install the drivers but since you say Windows was a clean install I'm not so sure that it'll work. If it was an upgrade it usually does. Unfortunately (or fortunately if I really say so) I don't have Win10 or any USB 3 ports so I can't delve around inside the OS looking for clues from my end.
Oh, and you didn't see FTDI USB UART as on Win10 at least it was reported as HC-2b in USBDview. The HC-2 (not 2b) at least on older OS'es get reported as the FTDI device. Good for me to know that.
Kevin,
I'm very glad to hear you got the CI-1 working on the laptop (shame to have had to suffer a crash to do it though), it went for so long without you having posted any further about it I had wondered if you'd given up on it.
- Tim
Post by: Jimk33 on February 24, 2017, 08:55:22 PM
I'm also having problems with the HC simulator on my back up computer. I installed the simulator as an administrator, and tried running it as an administrator, but the screen is blank except for the words "Main page." A screen capture is attached. It recognizes the CI-1, but the program won't work. Any thoughts on what I should do about this?
Thanks,
Jim
Post by: G8B4Life on February 25, 2017, 12:48:01 AM
As for your funky HC Simulator on the backup pc, This one should hopefully be an easy fix. It looks like HC Sim hasn't installed properly or is possibly corrupted. We will re-install it piece by piece manually; it's very easy and should be a lot quicker.
1. First, open up My Computer / Windows Explorer or whatever Win10 calls it and navigate to the "C:\ProgramData\Ring Engineering\RailPro HC Simulator" folder. In there you should see a file called "HC Simulator Storage". Delete it. Do not worry the file will be recreated when we run HC Simulator. There is likely one other file in the folder called RscLoaded, you can delete that file as well. If there are lot of files present stop and don't go any further and let me know what you are seeing.
2. Download and unzip the contents of this file (HC Simulator rsc.zip) to the "C:\ProgramData\Ring Engineering\RailPro HC Simulator" folder.
HC Simulator rsc.zip3. Run HC Simulator. You should not need to run as administrator.
HC Simulator should hopefully be working now, if not we'll try again. Do steps 1 and 2 again, DO NOT do step 3 and run HC Sim but continue with step 4.
4. Navigate to the "C:\Program Files\Ring Engineering\ RailPro HC Simulator" folder. Delete the executable file "HC Simulator.exe" If you can't see a file with that extension (.exe) you'll need to work out which file is the correct one. The one we want to delete has a size of 431kb.
5. Download and unzip the contents of this file (HC Simulator prg.zip) to the "C:\Program Files\Ring Engineering\ RailPro HC Simulator" folder.
HC Simulator prg.zipNote: There are a couple of other files in the zip, all bmp's. you can either unzip them to the same folder as the executable and replace the files that are already there or not bother as they should already be in the folder.
6. Run HC Sim, if this still does not work then we'll have to look into this deeper as the program might be crashing for some reason.
- Tim
Post by: Jimk33 on February 25, 2017, 04:44:55 PM
Thanks for the help. Your solution worked for the simulator. Just for reference, I initially deleted the HC Simulator Storage file, but didn't delete the RSCLoaded, and the simulator did not work. I went back and reloaded the program using the zip file you linked to, and the program still didn't work. I then went back and delete both HC Simulator Storage and RSCLoaded, and that was the key. Not sure if this tells you anything you can use in the future, but it is what made the difference.
Let me know if you come up with any thoughts for my other computer. I'm considering reloading the operating system, but it takes so long to reload all the programs that I'm hoping there's an easier way.
Thanks for the help.
Jim
Post by: G8B4Life on February 25, 2017, 07:21:21 PM
Let me know if you come up with any thoughts for my other computer.
I sent you a PM last night on that, I'd like you to send me a couple of log files for analysis. Details are in the PM.
- Tim
Post by: G8B4Life on March 16, 2017, 10:51:42 PM
We have solved Jim's connection issues. RPA and HC Sim both detect the HC and CI-1 now.
Long story long, If I had of known what I was looking for I could have solved this much earlier but I digress.
After no luck finding the problem originally Jim re-installed Win10 and then first of all before any other software installed RPA. Then after each piece of software he installed he tested RPA to see if it still connected to the HC until it failed. Once that happened he provided me with the logs generated by Win10 which I looked at.
The very last piece of software installed wasn't logged unfortunately but the last one that was logged rang some alarm bells. A quick search of Dr. Google revealed it has caused things not to work before. When Jim disabled it RPA and HC Sim could connect again.
The piece of software was a device driver, specifically a virtual HID device. Both the HC and CI-1 are HID devices, as well of your keyboard, mouse etc. Why it caused issues with the HC and CI-1 I don't know but I'll seeing what I can find out from it.
Of course it was not a USB problem which is why re-installing ports etc never worked, and why I don't think it showed in USB devices.
I now know better what to look for when someone else has connection issues. Thankyou to Jim for undertaking the painful process of reinstalling everything from scratch and testing connectivity at every new turn and then providing me his logs to look at.
+1 for RPUG ;).
- Tim
Post by: William Brillinger on March 16, 2017, 11:03:38 PM
Post by: Alan on March 17, 2017, 04:28:12 PM
I am sure Jim is very appreciative of your help.
Post by: Jimk33 on March 18, 2017, 08:26:00 AM
I am most definitely appreciative that Tim is a computer guru. Even if I had identified the problematic software I certainly would not have known what to do about it. As it turns out the program doesn't appear to need the virtual HID so I was able to disable that device and still use the program.
I'm also happy that as a beginner I was able to contribute to Tim's in identifying the root cause of the problem so others might benefit.
Regards,
Jim