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Hi, I am new to the group, and unfortunately have a problem I am hoping others may have solved or at least get advice from those more computer literate than myself. I did not see a similar issue in recent posts.
I have used Decoder Pro solely for programming locomotives on a standalone track since I converted to DCC in 2013. I have a Digitrax system and hence use the PR3 as a standalone programmer, and successfully used it as recently as this past weekend. Today I downloaded version 4.8 release after reading the release notes, and now serial port COM3 which is where my PR3 connects is not recognized, and Decoder Pro says no programmer is connected. I use a windows 7 operating system so thought none of the warnings noted for Linux or Mac should apply.
Did I miss something? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

Tim

Do I understand correctly that JMRI isn’t presenting COM3 as a choice when you check the preferences for the PR3 connection?

That's unexpected on Windows 7.

We probably need to have some help from a JMRI on Windows user, but the place to start is to check that Windows itself still sees the PR3. Perhaps some part of it’s drivers got uninstalled accidentally?

Bob

On Jul 24, 2017, at 2:56 PM, Tim Lux timlux33@... [jmriusers] <jmriusers@...> wrote:

Hi, I am new to the group, and unfortunately have a problem I am hoping others may have solved or at least get advice from those more computer literate than myself. I did not see a similar issue in recent posts.
I have used Decoder Pro solely for programming locomotives on a standalone track since I converted to DCC in 2013. I have a Digitrax system and hence use the PR3 as a standalone programmer, and successfully used it as recently as this past weekend. Today I downloaded version 4.8 release after reading the release notes, and now serial port COM3 which is where my PR3 connects is not recognized, and Decoder Pro says no programmer is connected. I use a windows 7 operating system so thought none of the warnings noted for Linux or Mac should apply.
Did I miss something? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you

--
Bob Jacobsen
rgj1927@...

Tim,

Did you perhaps connect your PR3 to a different USB port on your computer? That will cause Windows to change the COM Port "number". Usually, plugging the PR3 into the original USB port will return to the "old" COM Port "number".

When the COM Port number changes, it is usually possible to find the new COM Port number using JMRI's "Preferences" tool, in the "Connection" tab. Typically, JMRI will show the current selection, in red (because JMRI cannot communicate with that port number), and a list of other possible numbers, in black. Usually, one of the other COM Port numbers is the correct one...

If that fails, there is always using the Windows "Device Manager" to figure out exactly which COM Port "number" is assigned to the PR3.

Regards,
Billybob

Thanks for the quick replies Billybob and Bob. After checking things out using device manager, I found out that my PR3 isn't even listed as a device under device manager when plugged into where it always was, which is what I thought was COM3. That is my only open USB port even though Decoder Pro gives me COM3, 4, or 5 as options in the "Connection" tab. So I temporarily moved my printer USB plug into that port intending to check printer address, to verify that the plug was indeed COM3. Long story short my COM3 port is broken, no USB plug (I tried my camera there too) makes contact with the 4 terminals in the plug. So now I'm thinking until I get the port fixed maybe I can unplug my printer, which in its proper place comes up as address 1 (Does that mean it's COM1?), and run the PR3 from there. However, plugging my PR3 cable into there brings up an error message from "VCOM Port" saying that no driver is installed - I take it that I the PR3 driver is specific to a port and that I have to install from the Digitrax website? I cannot find the original driver disk, and it's probably updated by now anyways. And does this also now mean I cannot use the same port sharing PR3 and printer duties just by swapping out USB cables?
Thanks again for your patience teaching a not-very-computer-literate retiree.


Tim

Update: I got up the nerve this morning to unplug my computer from everything, open it up and disconnect the USB plugs from the computer and remove them. After plugging in a USB cable and with some trial and error with an ohmmeter, I discovered one of the 4 pins inside the USB plug on the computer was not making contact. A bit of bending with some fine dental picks I use on my N scale layout soon fixed that. After reassembly the computer recognized the driver as being from Digitrax but Decoder Pro didn't like it, so I uninstalled the driver and reinstalled it. The computer assigned it a new COM number (thanks Marc Fourner for the heads-up!) and after clearing that up in my Preferences I have my locomotive programmer back. Why the USB port would fail to work the very day I upgraded to version 4.8 is beyond me, but life is full of coincidences.
I'd like to echo a comment I saw recently by another user - I'm a happy user of JMRI (just Decoder Pro so far), but most of the stuff I see being posted is way over my head. I'm just thankful for the efforts of others to make this programming available for people like me, and again thanks for your suggestions on dealing with my particular issue. I'm back up and running, and all ended well.


Regards,
Tim Lux