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I ran my PS3 0-6-0 on DCS at home last night. Ran fine. Put it on a conventional loop at home, ran fine BUT was locked in reverse. I unlocked the reverse unit via the button codes on the transformer and away we went. 

 

I ran the same engine today on the National Capital Tracker layout. Ran on DCS. Came home, just put it on the conventional loop and it was again, locked in reverse. Same reverse unit unlock button code worked. 

 

I seem to remember a post about about conventional resets and a similar issue but can't remember it 100% nor did a search turn anything up. Info/help would be appreciated. 

 

EDIT - I also seem to remember my other PS3 engine, a Dash 8 doing the same thing only it was locked in forward. I did not lock anything into any direction. This must be a "feature" of PS3 since I got both to do it...I always thought it was to start in reverse 100% of the time after shutting down? If PS3s lock themselves into directions when going from DCS to conventional, thats a pretty screwy way to do things IMO. 

Last edited by SJC
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To me, if something is broken, that's not a bug.  To me, a bug is some inherent, internal defect which causes an item or a program to do things which are not intended.  If a program  changes settings by itself, that's a bug.

 

Here we go again, borne aloft on a flight of semantics.  The key question is why does it happen, and apparently happen more on PS3 than PS2.  And does it occur due to a bug (as I defined it*) in the software, or in the hardware design.

 

*'''When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'"  Lewis Caroll, Through the Looking Glass, Ch 6.

Robert,

 If a program changes settings by itself, that's a bug.

Hows do you know a person didn't set it wrong? If it happened all by itself, which is extremely unlikely, it would recur. It does not recur all by itself, so why do you think it happened all by itself?

 

A much more likely reason is either it was set wrong in the engine's firmware or it was done by a dealer/tech while testing the engine.

 

Regardless, it's not any kind of a software or hardware defect, which is the definition of a "bug". It's simply a setting that's been set wrong. Once you reset it correctly, it's resolved. No software or hardware change required.

*'''When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'"  Lewis Caroll, Through the Looking Glass, Ch 6.

Let me know when you get back to planet Earth.  

Hows do you know a person didn't set it wrong? If it happened all by itself, which is extremely unlikely, it would recur. It does not recur all by itself, so why do you think it happened all by itself?

 

A much more likely reason is either it was set wrong in the engine's firmware or it was done by a dealer/tech while testing the engine.

 

Because I never touched the settings, and it didn't do it for the first month after I placed it in operation.  If, as you correctly say, "why it's set wrong is uncertain," then how can you say for certain that it is not a bug?

 

Let me know when you get back to planet Earth.

 

Tomorrow.  I'm in Pennsylvania today.

Robert,

 then how can you say for certain that it is not a bug?

While one can never be certain, the odds are against a bug since software typically just doesn't do stuff randomly. There's always something that triggers an event. If this were a bug, it would have done it from the first time it was run and would do it again after you corrected it. In effect, there would be a pattern.


If it wasn't doing this at first and then began doing it later, something caused it to happen. Based on your layout and who uses it, my guess would be either one of two things:

  • Operator error (the grandkids), by randomly pushing buttons (granted, this is less likely for an event such as this one)
  • A derailment that caused a short, or a monetary short, that upset the board's processor.

Your 2 possibilities are well-grounded and quite possible, especially the latter.  A derailment spark can have weird effects, even if it does not result in a current exceeding circuit capacity.

 

With regard to the typicality of software, I do find occasionally that settings change for no apparent reason, like my word processor occasionally resetting itself to place the zip code barcode above the address, rather than below.

 

It is odd that I don't recall any forumites raising this issue under PS2 (one exception posted above in this thread), but there have been several occurrences under PS3.

Last edited by RJR

Seems there was another recent thread (can't find it) where a new-in-box PS3 engine came locked in either neutral or a direction for conventional.  As the title of thread suggests, SJC seems to get this behavior when going from DCS to conventional.

 

I find it hard to believe MTH would purposely ship an engine with the conventional direction locked requiring the Whistle & Bell button unlock sequence.  OTOH, some dealers test new-in-box engines before selling them and I'd think would do so in DCS mode. 

 

I can't imagine anyone having the free-time to do this, but it would be curious to know if it's the mere act of powering the engine in DCS that can lockup the conventional direction, or if you have to actually move the engine in DCS, etc..  Not that anything will come of it but always good to document the behavior as I'm sure this will come up again.

Stan,

 

Another reason why I don't believe that this issue is a bug, os that it would be much more wide-spread if it were.

 

I own 4 PS3 steamers, including the same Decapod that had this issue on Robert's layout, and have not seen the described symptoms. One difference, however, is that mine came from MTH directly rather than via a dealer

 

I also have 2 more on order so, if it's wide-spead, I may be seeing it soon.  

Barry, isn't wasn't my Decapod that was locked into reverse.  It was the PRR MU set.  The Decapod surfaced the grounding issue addressed in another thread.  It hasn't done it again, but then, I don't run it in conventional. 

 

Stan's experience is interesting.  I'm sure I could duplicate Stan's scenario and see what happens.

Last edited by RJR

Thanks for the info. Just so I followed everything accordingly, it is a "known" issue and PS3 engines sometimes need to be reset when moving from DCS to Conventional and vice versa. 

 

Another note - today at the show, I ran my PS3 Dash 8. No issues. Came home and tried it conventionally. It started up in reverse (front lights out, back on, etc) BUT would not move. Cycling through, nothing would change and it wouldn't move. Do a feature reset (via transformer bell/whistle buttons. My understanding is that is a feature, not factory reset. Please correct if wrong) and it works fine. 

I know for a fact that the conventional reset has some differences from the feature reset under DCS, at least for some engines.  I had a PTC trolley that I replaced the 5V board with a 3V board and the station announcements didn't work.  I had tried feature and factory resets with DCS, but the fix was a conventional reset.  After that, the sounds were back for conventional and DCS operation.

 

Originally Posted by SJC:

... Just so I followed everything accordingly, it is a "known" issue and PS3 engines sometimes need to be reset when moving from DCS to Conventional and vice versa

 

Others have reported PS3 engines being locked in conventional...whether it be locked in neutral, in fwd, or rev.  Most guys are understandably satisfied to find you can unlock it using the transformer Bell-Whistle feature-reset and move on.

 

AFAIK you're the first to provide the insight that this conventional lockup can/might be caused by operating the engine in DCS then going to conventional. 

 

I'm not sure about the vice versa case.  I don't recall reports that operating the engine in conventional then going to DCS requires a DCS reset to unlock the engine for DCS operation.

It seems like there is a building base of PS-3 engines where the memory for conventional operations is not effected by DCS memory resets and vice versa.

 

You should do a factory reset with DCS.  Power off.   Go to a conventional set up and do the feature reset conventionally.  At that point operating in DCS and than returning to Conventional should not have the engine return to locked out in neutral or any direction.

 

If it does, I would like to hear about it.  G

Last edited by GGG

I've been noticing a few things lately. I've been switching back and forth from DCS and conventional for testing, etc on my layout. My two PS3s do/have done the following going from DCS to Conventional only. I should note no issues with PS2 going back and forth. 

 

PS3 0-6-0. DCS to Conventional

 

Turn power on and wait, once headlight comes on (without sound, caps charging), engine storms into forward than immediately into reverse and keeps going at Nascar speeds until Caps charge then it operates normally. Was able to do a conventional reset and it operated normally. 

 

PS3 Dash-8. Started up locked in neutral. Did a factory reset and no change in sound volume, etc. Speed control was turned off (NOT something I did) but operated as it should. Tried another reset, no change. Shut down and let it sit a minute. Restart, everything works as it should. 

 

Based on the perfect operation in conventional (post reset) and DCS, I suspect there is something weird that happens going from DCS to conventional. Next time I run a PS3 on DCS and go Conventional, I'll remember to do a Factory Reset via remote and see what happens. I'd be curious to get others opinions. 

 

The Dash 8 will go in for a minor repair within the next few weeks. I'll have to ask my repair guy (MTH cert'd) for his input and if he has seen a similar thing. 

Last edited by SJC

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