Possible Virus

The chances if your good friend's DCS equipment having any sort of a virus is so small as to be non-existent.

Barry is probably correct.  I'm sure that if good friend were to post in detail his symptoms, he could get some valuable advice.  It is possible, I guess, that a computer virus could have caused the computer to download a garbled file. 

Even if the computer was infected by a virus, there is no way that DCS would be affected. In a nutshell a virus is software code designed to manipulate a computer, usually with ill effects. Viruses are written usually to exploit security vulnerabilities in the computer's operating system (i.e. Windows, AppleOS, Android); once the virus infects the computer, it can do whatever it is written to do (harvest private data, slow the computer down etc.). Because each operating system has its own unique software code, a virus designed to infect one kind of operating system cannot infect another type. So in order for DCS to be infected with a virus, a hacker first has to write a virus specifically for DCS' software code. Given all of that extra effort with no real benefit, it becomes clear that hacking DCS isn't appealing.

So what exactly did happen? My guess is your friend's equipment might have had a bad/incomplete DCS software flash. Re-flashing DCS with the latest software loading utility and DCS software should solve the problem.

-John

Hi all,

As John and Barry have said, the chances of getting a virus on DCS hardware is essentially nil.  That's not because there's any great defense in place to block a virus; there's not.  It's because the processor and operating system that run the TIU and remote are so esoteric that there are only a hand full of people on planet Earth who have the knowledge and programming tools to write software for the system.  The TIU and remote each have a Mitsubishi M16C micro controller.  Software designed to infect a 32 or 64 bit PC cannot be loaded onto the M16C.  Even if some nefarious character who bleeds orange had written a virus specifically for the M16C, such a virus would never be detected by any commercial anti-virus software.

What's far more likely is that Gandydancer's friend has run into a couple of the known bugs still in v4.30.  In particular, it sounds like the engines in his consists are associated with different TIU's.  When that happens the remote can't move the consist out of the inactive list.  The solution is to get all the engines associated with the same TIU by either deleting and re-adding or using the READ button.  After that, the consist can be moved out of inactive ONLY when all the constituent engines are on the associated TIU.

Dave,

When that happens the remote can't move the consist out of the inactive list.

Not any more.

That's been corrected in the current DCS 4.30.

Hello to all and thank you for your comments.  My friend said that all engines work fine individually in conventional mode.  I DSC and as a consists one engine out of the 2 will not respond.  He is operating 3 individual DCS systems and they all do the same thing. He had a download done in 4.2 on all 3 at the same time and his troubles started very soon after.  Either the engine does not show on the track or will not show anything on the remote at all.  Your comment as to possibly getting a bad or incomplete download makes good sense so he is going to have that done.  Will let you all know his out come.  Thanks again. 

Hi Gandydancer,

He had a download done in 4.2 on all 3 at the same time and his troubles started very soon after.

That clinches it.  There's no virus and his systems loaded OK.  The problem is a bug in V4.20 of the remote's firmware.  As Barry noted above, this problem was corrected in the 4.30 release.  If your friend has his systems upgraded to 4.30 the problem should go away.

I have had issue with getting " Engine Not On Track " message when I leave my TIU on in my repair room. My shop which has a shelf layout is on the first floor and my repair room is on the third. As soon as I unplug the TIU upstairs the problem goes away.

Dave,

As soon as I unplug the TIU upstairs the problem goes away.

Do both TIUs have the same DCS ID#? If they do, that will cause problems such as those that you're experiencing.

I too had thought about my system being hacked. I believed it was possible after downloading soundsets that were messed up. If they messed up the soundsets I figured, why not the whole system?

 Since then, each time my system wasn't working I've found the cause of each issue. The "bugs" in each DCS release, can naturally lead to thinking there's more going on. Lately, my system seems to struggle with all my TIUs. I'm blaming myself for not adding them correctly.

 Watching every issue posted here, helps me learn what I'm doing wrong and how to fix it. It's not that difficult a system. The rules of using it must be followed. If just one of the major steps is messed up, the system probably can't function. We then blame the system. Well, I do anyways!