Engine ID issue

I'm not coming up with anything...too many contradictory symptoms. What ES44 engine is it...Lionel part #? I want to ask if you tried "reset" and also is it part of a "train", but still it wouldn't start up, I don't think, buy itself. Seems like I had one like this once and ended up repl the R4LC (older Legacy engine).

Canadian Pacific, 6-42582. It is from that most recent run of ES44s from the 2014 American Flyer catalog.  

Im not quite sure what you mean by "reset" but I am willing to try and report back. 

At one point it was part of a "train" now that I think about it.  I am not sure how that would prevent it from not allowing me to "set" a unit ID number to it.  

Ben

The zero key or showing an R on the remote is the reset button. Worth a try. It's mentioned in about the second or third to last page in the manual. I find the unable to reprogram or that it starts up by itself unlikely symptoms for being a Train engine, but again worth a try. I thought of Train because some of the things you mentioned are turned off when in a Train depending on it's position, etc.

If you open it up, you might find the antenna plug not seated or plugged in.

Can one of our TMCC gurus correct any error in the following:

It seems to me that TMCC/LEGACY include both “soft” and “hard” reset routines.

A soft reset is done with AUX-1 ZERO  in RUN mode to return the engine to the defaults it had at the beginning of the current session.

A hard reset is needed when your engine’s working file gets corrupted and strange behavior sets in. Hard reset is accomplished in PROGRAM mode. There is a correct permanent copy of your engine’s file in a ROM (read only memory) area of the TMCC chip, and the PROGRAM routine copies this file over your (now corrupted) working file in a RAM (random access memory) area in the chip, thus restoring your engine to sane behavior. Am I correct thus far?

The “Reprogramming your locomotive” routine typically gets its own page toward the back of your owner’s manual. I presented all this here because I had an engine do the same thing recently (Railsounds beginning unaddressed at power up), followed by unresponsiveness. Upon “forcing” a hard reset routine despite the Railsounds already going, the reset worked (Yea!), and all has been well since. It’s worth a try if you haven’t done it yet. I like the confirmation you get at the end of the routine . . . a whistle or horn blast after hitting the last key of the routine.

You are absolutely correct, and the type code is important in many cases.  Newer Legacy locomotives just require a TMCC ID set to do the hard reset you refer to, older Legacy and TMCC also have a code proceeded by AUX1 to set the type.

Thanks, John. I was unaware of the shorter routine for later Legacy engines. Great improvement. Both my legacy engines are quite early.

Most early Legacy use AUX1-1 for steamers and AUX1-2 for diesels.  I suspect this isn't universal, but it's the norm.  For TMCC, it was a bit more complicated, here the document.  There are a number of different codes, depending on the specific engine and features.

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESTORE TMCC FUNCTIONS (R2LC/LCRU 2 CIRCUIT BOARDS)

OddIsHeRU posted:

Thanks, John. I was unaware of the shorter routine for later Legacy engines. Great improvement. Both my legacy engines are quite early.

It is not a shorter routine, still need to use program switch, it is just that they standardized the Reset number for Legacy.  G

I think he's referring to the later RCMC equipped engines, you just set the TMCC ID in those, no reset number.