RBE Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 (edited) So in a bid to use JMRI for Burton on Trent a bought a DCC55 cable to connect my laptop to the layouts MRC prodigy advance. The spec of the cable says it works with all versions of the prodigy, express, advance and advance 2. All good. So I have installed the driver for the cable, installed the MRC/gaugemaster software, installed JMRI. I'm running windows 10. There was some odd behaviour where my mouse pointer skipped all over the place and randomly clicked when I installed the driver for the cable so that may be a pointer to some issue. Anyway started the MRC software as I assumed that would be the best place to check connection. Nothing. Mangaged to send a speed table to a loco which responded but still nothing when using the throttle. No link light activity at all. Switched to JMRI. Exactly the same. If I open the serial monitor I just get: Rx: Unk cmd 06 00 06 00 or similar back constantly. If I try to read or write anything the JMRI just says programmer in use. Has anyone got this set up to work and if so what could be the issue? Regards Cav Edited February 7, 2019 by RBE Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 Generally with these type of devices you install the software before you connect it. Then when you connect Windoze looks for the drivers and off you go. Does the PC user screen setup need the Com Port designating. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 Yes the drivers installed. The set up screen does require a COM port and its COM5. I uave located it in device manager and chosen it in JMRI. It does speak to the controller but only to receive the unk cmd lines. Nothing else works. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
40034_Nick Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 Try all USB ports.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 (edited) Can you force a Com Port of 4 or less. Some software appears to work ‘better’ if the port is such. Edit - just seen the above reply and wondered if you have USB 2 and/or 3 to try. Rob Edited February 7, 2019 by RAF96 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 I tried all of the USB ports. I can force a COM port of 1 or 2 as those are available. May be worth a try later. What the logic of the 4 or less? I have never had that issue before with connections (albeit not railway ones)? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 Further random suggestion - USB-3 ports (they usually have a blue centre), some devices seem unhappy with USB-3 when designed for USB-2, so if there is the option, use a USB-2 port. If you only have USB-3 ports, then a little hub unit might offer a way to push one down to USB-2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 (edited) It is something Hornby recommend in their Railmaster software if you are having comms connection problems. i have run it on ports 5 and 6 without problem so never delved into the ‘why it works’. Edit - generally if using a hub it should be powered. Rob Edited February 7, 2019 by RAF96 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 COM-1 is very unlikely to be sensible, and COM-2 dubious. COM-1 is, in most cases, present as real hardware on the motherboard. In many cases not actually connected to an external socket, but its actually there. COM-2 is similar. That you can't see something at COM-3 or above when connecting the device, implies the device drivers are not fully loaded. - Nigel Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 The USB ports are USB2. COM 3 and 4 are in use already according to the device manager and the DCC55 cable is registering as present on COM5 in there and it says that the drivers are up to date and functioning normally. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 Only suggestion is to delete device and drivers in Dev Mgr, then plug it in again and let Windoze refind it and reinstall the drivers. Rob 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 I will give that a try later. I do think the mouse pointer mess up on driver installation is related somehow though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted February 7, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2019 2 minutes ago, RBE said: I will give that a try later. I do think the mouse pointer mess up on driver installation is related somehow though. USB mouse? if so that sounds likely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 Try deleting the mouse as well and let it be refound. I wonder if the soon to be released Hornby cable will work with other kit. That one requires no special drivers and uses Railmaster as its ‘JMRI’ and is less than half the price. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 4 minutes ago, RedgateModels said: USB mouse? if so that sounds likely. No Ian its the mousepad thingybob on the laptop. When I install the driver for the cable it goes spazzy and just flicks around the screen right clicking everything until I unplug the cable and reinsert it again. It then stops flicking about but won't select anything. If I then restart the computer it all works ok. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold RedgateModels Posted February 7, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 7, 2019 hmmmm it might be the installer scanning the COM ports for an available slot and interfering with the mousepad as it does it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 Would that potentially make the cable not work subsequently? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 (edited) what you will need to do when you look in Device Manager (right click start menu and select Device Manager) is to select 'show hidden devices' from the View menu as this will show devices you have had installed that may be holding ports open. once you have deleted all these devices, then restart, let Windows (I assume it is Win10?) do its thing and open device manager to make sure everything is running properly - anything with a cross or exclamation mark means there is a problem and you need to find the correct driver. Once you have no issues insert your new device and watch in device manager to see if it is installed correctly, if not you will need to find the correct drivers for it - depending on the message. You may also need to reassign a free com port to that new device. EDIT - changing com port http://bfy.tw/MBIQ Edited February 7, 2019 by WIMorrison added link for com port changing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 Ok cheers. I will give that a go later. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 (edited) Just been having a google for erratic mousepad behaviour and it is common when other things are plugged in - even an OEM power supply. Fixes have been: Return the mousepad settings to defaults. Disable the mousepad and use a USB mouse. Power down the laptop, remove the battery, press the power on button to drain residual charge. Refit the battery and reboot. Have you looked on your lappie OEM forums for any similar awryness. At this stage anything is worth a try. Edit - in the old days of Windows it was common to have memory allocation conflicts where two devices were using the same resource. I can’t remember how we used to show that conflict list now. Rob Edited February 7, 2019 by RAF96 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 7, 2019 Author Share Posted February 7, 2019 Ok, I've done all of the above. Moved onto my desktop PC to see if its the laptop and still no joy. JMRI and the MRC software know its there as when it isn't (if I pull it out) it says that they cant detect it. So ergo when its in they can. However, neither program can do anything with it. JMRI can read the serial connection as before Rx Unk cmd code 06 00 06 00 etc. I am now at a loss! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 (edited) I can only think that the cable is working fine but that JMRI needs a tweak to use it. Without reading back through the thread have you had any help from Gaugemaster / MRC with this. I presume you have the user manual from here http://www.gaugemaster.com/instructions/prodigy/DCC55.pdf and that you cannot get as far as allocating a cab number. Edit - also found this under Computer Control section ... May or may not help... Rob Edited February 8, 2019 by RAF96 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBE Posted February 8, 2019 Author Share Posted February 8, 2019 I emailed Gaugemaster the first day but as yet still no reply. It doesn't work with the MRC software either. I have the user manual and have followed it. I can get past the allocation of the cab. Both the JMRI and MRC software see the cable as when I take it out it tells me that it cant see the cable. JMRI also receives data from the cable but all are unknown commands. I have actually once managed to send a speed table to a loco via tge MRC software but other than that nothing happens. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAF96 Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 Makes me wonder if the cable is actually OK or not. No real way to test it I suppose other than it works as advertised. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted February 8, 2019 Share Posted February 8, 2019 what type of cable is it that you are looking at? The cables used on train gear are mostly pretty standard to the IT industry (especially as they use standard connectors) and I am sure you will be able to get another quite easily. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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