Jeff,

One trick is to confirm if the serial out to the command station is working.
The trick is you need to look real close at the 9 pin connector and then
jumper pins 2 to 3. If you do this, then start JMRI. The message about
command 0xAA will change. Instead of timeout, it will complain it doesn't
make a proper response since the 0xAA is now looping back to itself. That
would prove all the way to the front of the command is working ok. Then I'd
say the other step to take (not likely to help) is to open the command
station and make sure the upper board is seating right onto the lower board.
Also inspect around the back side of the 9 pin connector incase you see
something like a broken solder joint. These haven't been the case many times
over the years, but it might have helped a couple of times.

-Ken Cameron, Member JMRI Dev Team
www.jmri.org
www.fingerlakeslivesteamers.org
www.cnymod.org
www.syracusemodelrr.org

Jeff, I was going to direct email you, but realized that it's better having all these wonderful folks see my response - just in case I'm too far off base!? We discovered recently that there are some problems with some interfaces in 4.16, and it might be worth your while to try the most recent test release, 4.17.4.? If this isn't good advice, there will be helpful comments, and you should heed their advice - these guys are the greatest!
See you soon!
John Swanson

Is the editor the same one that you used previously?? Maybe something on your computer changed, so that you're using a different editor.??

Dan

Sorry...yes...I get the preview...then text editor...then I can scroll down the build report...but I cannot find the "FIND" option which normally appears at the top of the build report...THANK YOU...Frank in Houston

Hi Dan....Just to clarify....YES....It is the first line of the options and it is checked. ?I did not confuse it with the option to print the manifest in text editor format on the main settings page...

THANK YOU....Frank in Houston

I don't understand your answer. But if you have the "Use text editor to preview build reports" selected, that should bring up your computers text editor when previewing the build report for a train.? Are using using the "preview" for your build reports?

Dan

Hi Dan.....YES....It gives me the manifest but not the "FIND" in the build report....THANK YOU....Frank in Houston..

Frank,

In the Build Report Options window, do you have the option to use an editor selected?

Dan

Hello. I am trying to learn how to set up Signal Mast logic. The JMRI documentation "JMRI: Signal Mast Logic" is pretty good but has me stumped when it talks about the?Signal Mast Appearance definition file. I've loaded a sample panel file (AFarfelu16Fadj1.xml) in order to learn something, but can't figure out where the?Signal Mast Appearance definition file would be for this. Nor do I know how to view r modify it. Thanks!

Ok...I updated the driver for the adapter, but my computer didn't like that
and Device Manager kept refreshing about every 10 seconds or so. When I had
a bad adapter several years ago, it did the same thing, so I rolled back to
the previous driver and it's stable again.

Is there a way to check the command station to see if the RS232 port is
working properly? I'll call NCE in the morning, but if there's any easy way
I'd like to try tonight. Are there any other settings in the command
station I should check? I REALLY don't want to reset the CS to factory
settings, because I'll lose all my consists.

Thanks for your help!
-- Jeff

Jeff,

I'll let Dave speak about the different USB-serial devices. He has a
standard page explaining some of the principle ones.

But looking at your log, it NEVER talks with the command station. It tries,
but never gets an answer. As I said, it gives a green status at first
because the test had not timed out yet. Maybe we should show it as yellow
for 'unknown' and then green if we get a replay or red if we don't. But
color isn't real good for interfaces, some people don't see colors that
well. So at first it could say 'testing' until it knows one way or the
other. Minor point, generally people wait long enough to start that it
doesn't matter.

-Ken Cameron, Member JMRI Dev Team
www.jmri.org
www.fingerlakeslivesteamers.org
www.cnymod.org
www.syracusemodelrr.org

Thanks, Ken! Sorry, I should have mentioned that the computer and cable
worked at a friend's house a week or so ago. I usually do plug into the
same jack, but if I don't JMRI has, in the past, found the port I used. Now
JMRI finds the port and appears to connect but eventually fails.

I have a 20-foot or so USB extension cable attached to the adapter, but I
did plug the computer directly into the adapter and got the same result.

Are there serial-USB adapters that are problematic? This one doesn't have
any markings so I'm not sure of the brand, but I think it's an Insignia.

-- Jeff

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I’ll watch for that. ?The only places where I could anticipate this would be in staging where some turnouts were oriented other than normal. ?But in NCE the system relies more on what I tell it is happening instead of looking at, “Is this a Left or Right turnout?”

Jeff M,

My suspects are either how the serial-USB physically connects with the front
of the command station, the USB drivers, and if you are plugging into the
same jack on the computer or not. Some USB will cause a change of port name
if they move around. Some have hardware that doesn't let them plug all the
way into the connector (9 pin) properly for good contact. The driver/USB,
well that depends on which brand and when/where you got it.

Your log shows that we are not getting any answer from the command station.
At startup, the status is presuming the connection worked and it sends the
'AA' command to see the version and that the link is working. It allows 10
seconds for the reply to time out. When that happens, it turns the status to
red. That is what is happening according to the log.

-Ken Cameron, Member JMRI Dev Team
www.jmri.org
www.fingerlakeslivesteamers.org
www.cnymod.org
www.syracusemodelrr.org

Thank you. Frank in Houston.?

Hello Everyone,

I have an NCE PowerPro connected to a Dell laptop (Win10)?using a serial-USB adapter cable.? Command station version is 19:08 Mar 1, 2007C.? I have had intermittent luck connecting to DecoderPro/PanelPro; to try and fix it I just upgraded to JMRI version 4.16 and still have the problem.

When I start PanelPro, if the system finds the COM port (which is about half the time, but I think that's another issue), I get the green "connected" message at the bottom of the DecoderPro/Roster screen.? However, after about 30 seconds it drops the connection and I get the red "not connected" message.? I've checked baud rate (9600 in both the command station and JMRI) and?NCE's AIU Broadcast (off).? JMRI is set to NCE command station version 2006 or later.? I read the recent NCE USB thread but that seemed to apply to the USB-PowerCab system.

Please help!? Here is the system log from my last attempt:

2019-09-18 15:23:03,219 util.Log4JUtil??????????????????????? INFO? - * JMRI log ** [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:03,235 util.Log4JUtil??????????????????????? INFO? - This log is appended to file: C:\Users\Jeffrey Mutter\JMRI\log\messages.log [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:03,235 util.Log4JUtil??????????????????????? INFO? - This log is stored in file: C:\Users\Jeffrey Mutter\JMRI\log\session.log [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:03,250 apps.Apps???????????????????????????? INFO? - PanelPro version 4.16+R6f9aced starts under Java 1.8.0_201 on Windows 10 x86 v10.0 at Wed Sep 18 15:23:03 EDT 2019 [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:06,105 apps.Apps???????????????????????????? INFO? - Starting with profile My_JMRI_Railroad.3ee7110a [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:06,401 node.NodeIdentity???????????????????? INFO? - Using 08fea99e-6b01-44fe-8e8b-1bbc47625414 as the JMRI storage identity for profile id 3ee7110a [AWT-EventQueue-0]
2019-09-18 15:23:06,522 xml.AbstractSerialConnectionConfigXml INFO? - Starting to connect for "NCE" [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:07,309 serialdriver.SerialDriverAdapter????? INFO? - NCE COM3 port opened at 9600 baud [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:07,695 util.FileUtilSupport????????????????? INFO? - File path program: is C:\Program Files (x86)\JMRI\ [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:07,695 util.FileUtilSupport????????????????? INFO? - File path preference: is C:\Users\Jeffrey Mutter\JMRI\My_JMRI_Railroad\ [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:07,695 util.FileUtilSupport????????????????? INFO? - File path profile: is C:\Users\Jeffrey Mutter\JMRI\My_JMRI_Railroad\ [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:07,710 util.FileUtilSupport????????????????? INFO? - File path settings: is C:\Users\Jeffrey Mutter\JMRI\ [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:07,710 util.FileUtilSupport????????????????? INFO? - File path home: is C:\Users\Jeffrey Mutter\ [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:07,710 util.FileUtilSupport????????????????? INFO? - File path scripts: is C:\Users\Jeffrey Mutter\JMRI\My_JMRI_Railroad\ [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:08,080 PanelPro.PanelPro???????????????????? INFO? - Main initialization done [main]
2019-09-18 15:23:17,450 jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController???? WARN? - Timeout on reply to message: AA consecutive timeouts = 0 in nce.NceTrafficController [nce.NceTrafficController Transmit thread]
2019-09-18 15:23:17,550 nce.NceConnectionStatus?????????????? WARN? - Incorrect or no response from NCE command station [nce.NceTrafficController Transmit thread]
2019-09-18 15:23:17,550 jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController???? WARN? - sendMessage: Exception: In jmri.jmrix.nce.NceTrafficController port warn:? [nce.NceTrafficController Transmit thread]
java.io.IOException
?at purejavacomm.PureJavaSerialPort$1.write(PureJavaSerialPort.java:642)
?at java.io.DataOutputStream.write(Unknown Source)
?at java.io.FilterOutputStream.write(Unknown Source)
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController.forwardToPort(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:690)
?at jmri.jmrix.nce.NceTrafficController.forwardToPort(NceTrafficController.java:494)
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController.transmitLoop(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:475)
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController$1.run(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:771)
?at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
2019-09-18 15:23:17,550 jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController???? ERROR - run: Exception: java.io.IOException in class jmri.jmrix.nce.NceTrafficController [nce.NceTrafficController Receive thread]
java.io.IOException
?at purejavacomm.PureJavaSerialPort$2.read(PureJavaSerialPort.java:887)
?at java.io.DataInputStream.read(Unknown Source)
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController.readByteProtected(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:947)
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController.loadChars(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:978)
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController.handleOneIncomingReply(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:1050)
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController.receiveLoop(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:871)
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController$2.run(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:795)
?at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
2019-09-18 15:23:17,550 jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController???? ERROR - Exit from rcv loop in class jmri.jmrix.nce.NceTrafficController [nce.NceTrafficController Receive thread]
2019-09-18 15:23:27,552 jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController???? WARN? - Timeout on reply to message: AA consecutive timeouts = 1 in nce.NceTrafficController [nce.NceTrafficController Transmit thread]
2019-09-18 15:23:27,652 jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController???? ERROR - Transmit thread terminated prematurely by: java.lang.NullPointerException [nce.NceTrafficController Transmit thread]
java.lang.NullPointerException
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController.getPortName(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:819)
?at jmri.jmrix.nce.NceConnectionStatus.nceEpromPoll(NceConnectionStatus.java:132)
?at jmri.jmrix.nce.NceTrafficController.pollMessage(NceTrafficController.java:430)
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController.transmitLoop(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:470)
?at jmri.jmrix.AbstractMRTrafficController$1.run(AbstractMRTrafficController.java:771)
?at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Any help is appreciated!
Jeff Mutter

Klaus,

Thanks.? ? just cleaning, consolidating, sorting and send all VSD to DropBox backup.? 1,800 files!? ?geeez.? Need a course in data management.

Conrad

Am 18.09.2019 um 20:55 schrieb conrad:

I just checked the untouched github file Class64.vsd and the config file does not have <engine-gain>0.8</engine-gain>.? ?hmmm.

Right. Class64.vsd is older than the introduction of "engine-gain". But it's fine. The value is optional.


Klaus

Am 18.09.2019 um 15:55 schrieb conrad:

Yes, I did check that F8 was correct.? Program manager shows it and, more importantly, the loco slows when F8 is activated.? I'll switch all to F3 as a test though.

I'll check it out.

BTY HOW DOES ONE GET THE NICE VERTICAL BAR ON CUT/PASTE QUOTES? I DID THIS BY AN UNKNOWN ACCIDENT

Mark the text you want to quote before you click on "Reply".

"(BTW, in one of my last post, I gave you a false recommendation for engine gain. It's not <gain> but <engine-gain>."
Interesting, for as far as I can tell I have not had?<engine-gain>0.8</engine-gain> in the config file.? I have now put it in and I think it has made throttle "sliding" harder.
What does it do?

OK, I found it. In message /g/jmriusers/message/163562 I recommended to use <gain>, but it should mean <engine-gain>. Please check your config.xml of your NW2 VSD file. The engine sound is a special sound and I have "engine-gain" intended for it.


Klaus