# Digitrax PS3 Issues



## SSBN743 (Dec 30, 2013)

Hi All,

I’ve got a problem with the Digitrax PS3 interface that I can’t seem to find any answers for online; I’m wondering if someone reading this forum will be able to help.

I had, an older Windows 7 computer (originally Windows Vista) connected to the PS3 and the DCS51 command station and it worked fine. However, that PC was aging quickly and was causing me frequent grief. With that, I bought a new machine from Dell with Windows 7 Professional pre-installed.

The new machine will not communicate with the PS3; at least with the driver that Digitrax provides on their website, and I think I know why. The driver provided by Digitrax, is for a COM port. The old Windows 7 machine had a COM port despite that fact that it had no serial input (I believe it was a virtual thing). The new Windows 7 machine does not have a COM port, and only lists “unrecognized device” under the USB section of Device Manager for the USB line carrying data to and from the PS3.

When I try to install the Digitrax provided driver to the unrecognized USB interface, I receive an error about it not being the correct driver for the device.

Now, I’m curious, and it seems that Windows has changed the way (probably in a service pack I didn’t have on the old machine) in which it handles the USB hardware; i.e. no more virtual ports.

So, I can see two problems here:

1. The Windows machine currently does not communicate with the PS3
2. JMRI may not either if it’s expecting to communicate with a now non-existent COM port number

Has anyone else ran into this issue? Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Josh


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## JerryH (Nov 18, 2012)

Disregard the error, just tell it to use that driver anyway.


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## SSBN743 (Dec 30, 2013)

Boy, I wish I could – I want to try that. However, I think doing so will require me to modify registry settings and all that fun stuff. Or, at the very least, manually install a driver, something I have no idea how to do; if anyone knows how to manually install this driver that would be great – but this seems to be a larger problem, in my opinion anyway.

Maybe I should have been clearer; I can’t force the install. The installer just says something like “no driver found” and has an OK button at the bottom. When you click OK, it says “Windows has determined that the correct driver is already installed” – but then still says “unrecognized device” under Device Manager.

I think I need a USB driver, (not a COM driver from Digitrax), but am not holding my breath on that one. Someone else has had to have had this issue; or, maybe I’m just going insane!


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## JerryH (Nov 18, 2012)

Have you followed the Digitrax instructions?
http://www.digitrax.com/static/apps/software/download/15/PR3-WIN7_1.pdf


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## SSBN743 (Dec 30, 2013)

JerryH said:


> Have you followed the Digitrax instructions?
> http://www.digitrax.com/static/apps/software/download/15/PR3-WIN7_1.pdf


Unfortunately I have – to a “T”.

Fortunately, I did get a little farther last night but am still having issues.

I Googled why I didn’t have any COM ports on my computer and found a thread on that exact subject:
https://www.xrite.com/colori5-benchtops/support/kb5778

It turns out that Windows now considers COM ports to be “legacy Hardware” and does not install them by default; whew – at least it wasn’t a service pack issue. Anyway, you must select any item in the device manger window and the “add legacy hardware” option will be available under the ‘actions’ menu at the top.

So, go through the wizard, install standard COM ports, and install the Digitrax driver to a COM port and you’re good to go; right? Wrong! The attached screenshots show my current issues.

Although I’ve made a few steps in a positive direction, the driver is installed and everything appears to be fine, except that the COM port will not start citing an error (code 10). I Googled Code 10 and found that it is one of three things:

1. Device manager cannot start the device
2. One of the drivers that the device needs does not start
3. Device manger has insufficient information to recognize the error provided by Device Manager

One website I found suggested changing the COM port number; which I did while disabling and enable the COM port each time. It didn’t help, the same issues were observed.

Does anyone have any ideas on what to do next? If I knew what service controlled the COM ports I could try to manually start it in ‘services’ but, unfortunately, I don’t know which service controls the COM port and which other dependencies said service may have. I did find the Print Spooler and cycled that, just on the off chance that may cycle the COM port service too…but it didn’t.

This is frustrating because I know last week my PS3 worked just fine on a Windows 7 Professional 64-bit machine – and now it doesn’t on a brand new Windows 7 Professional 64-bit machine. I got over the lack of COM ports hurdle, but I may as well be right back where I started.


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## JerryH (Nov 18, 2012)

Have you contacted Digitrax? I did run a PR3 on a W7 x64 box svcpk 1 (home built) for a short time to test TCG software and I don't recall any issues with it running. It does show a fully functional com1 port in the device manager but there are not actual com ports for the motherboard. I believe windows will tie USB and com port usage together for applications needing a com port via USB. It may be leftover from the PR3 installation or some other software I may have used on it in the past. However, since the software for running trains doesn't need much in the way of a computer, I use old XP boxes to run my layout as they are basically free. You might want to use an old XP PC for your railroad. I don't remember but the com port may not start until triggered by the PR3.


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## SSBN743 (Dec 30, 2013)

JerryH said:


> Have you contacted Digitrax? I did run a PR3 on a W7 x64 box svcpk 1 (home built) for a short time to test TCG software and I don't recall any issues with it running. It does show a fully functional com1 port in the device manager but there are not actual com ports for the motherboard. I believe windows will tie USB and com port usage together for applications needing a com port via USB. It may be leftover from the PR3 installation or some other software I may have used on it in the past. However, since the software for running trains doesn't need much in the way of a computer, I use old XP boxes to run my layout as they are basically free. You might want to use an old XP PC for your railroad. I don't remember but the com port may not start until triggered by the PR3.


No I haven't contacted them yet - but that's what it's down to at this point. Surely I can't be the first one to experience this issue; can I?


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## highvoltage (Apr 6, 2014)

SSBN743 said:


> No I haven't contacted them yet - but that's what it's down to at this point. Surely I can't be the first one to experience this issue; can I?


Nope, in fact there's a Yahoo group just for Digitrax issues: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Digitrax/info


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