Atlas dash 8 lighting problem

[Don Stafford]

Have a lovely Conrail dash 8 that has a odd lighting problem.  When it first goes on the layout, the lights will turn on but shortly afterwards, they go out for the rest of the session and refuse to come back on.  I got this loco used and it had and still has momentum programmed in.  Any connection and anything to try besides a reset to factory specs?
I appreciate any comments.

[Mike C]

 Guess I'd try the reset. If the light works at first, I am guessing that its a decoder issue......Mike

[Don Stafford]

Thanks Mike.  Tried the full reset to no avail, but I did manage to trash the lovely slow start that the previous owner had programmed in.  Now it jackrabbits at the first click.  Does that mean I'm now at 14 or 28 steps rather than 128?  And can you tell me how to get back to a slow startup?