Unsolved Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues
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@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
Do we have any epson printer heads here ?
I'm running into an issue were receipt printers are printing characters such as
@vor???????????on top of receipts.
I have Epson TMT 88 Thermal Printers with Serial connections on com ports on the POS terminals.I've replaced adapters, checked connections, replaced patch cables, checked hardware settings for those ports for baud rate, handshaking etc.
all of the above is correct, Hardware guys had me test printing .txt files to the printer as just the hardware and they don't print that way.I've asked everyone else in the point of sale world and still have yet to get an answer that will resolve the issue.
It doesn't do this with NCR terminals, but with POSBANK terminals it seems this is an on going issue.
I've been searching the web and trying different fixes. even the hardware vendor told me things to try and it's still not working.
I'm pulling what little hair i have left out trying to fix this.
any advice would be appreciated..Generic text driver?
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Generic text driver?
I dont think we install the printers on the hardware.
only set it in our software and it prints the receipts .
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What should be where the junk chars are? Anything? Graphics?
What encoding are you sending to the printers? Ascii? PS? PCL? Epson's ESC/POS? IBM? Windows based software and drivers?
Does your POS software manufacturer have drivers?
I know, so may questions...... but POS printing can be problematic to troubleshoot.
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It's not trying to print a logo which should reside in the flash memory in the printer? The logo is downloaded with some epson utility.
Another issue could be that the user entered some unsupported characters in text that goes on the reciept, like the company name, address or somewhere. The printer doesn't recognize it and prints garbage.Best way to trouble shoot issues like this is to capture the serial data that goes to the printer with a laptop or something. That way you can see what is actually sent and figure out where the problem is.
You need some connectors and a serial to USB adapter to make it happen. You can capture the data with linux or use some windows utility to do it. Search for serial port sniffer to find some.
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You could try something like this:
Eltima Serial Port data capture
Honeslty, there used to be lots of freebies that would do this. You could try Sourceforge
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@JasGot said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
What should be where the junk chars are? Anything? Graphics?
Nothing should be printing here. It should just be 5 empty spaces.
What encoding are you sending to the printers? Ascii? PS? PCL? Epson's ESC/POS? IBM? Windows based software and drivers?
I dont know off top of my head on the encoding, How would I check that
Does your POS software manufacturer have drivers?
The software does have drives, I believe for the printers because we set them up in the "back-end"(i use that loosely as we us a UI for the software to add all configuring from items to terminals etc.
I know, so may questions...... but POS printing can be problematic to troubleshoot.
POS printers and POS systems are a whole other world than IT.
Different rules, different regs. -
The plan of attack for this morning is Changing the configuration of the printer in the UI - making it a Windows Printer in the software, and downloading and installing the Epson utility to run the printer. So it'll stay serial, however it will now be running off of Epson Drivers / Windows rather than the software...
The weird part is, we have some sites using NCR terminals. and some using POSBANK terminals, the POSBANK's are the ones having this issue. the NCR terms aren't having the issue and are set up the exact same way... So one would think hardware differences right?
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@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
So one would think hardware differences right?
Configuration differences in how the POS terminals are setup to print is what I'd lean to.
Did this issue "just start out of the blue" from an existing installation without issue previously?
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@DustinB3403 said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
So one would think hardware differences right?
Configuration differences in how the POS terminals are setup to print is what I'd lean to.
Did this issue "just start out of the blue" from an existing installation without issue previously?
I've seen it on some of the NCR terminals, but replacing adapters and patch cables fixed that immediately and haven't got a call back on those.
we all agree in the office that it's a non-issue , because we have other sites with the same exact set up that haven't called in .
Also, It's not on top of customer receipts. It's only on reports/checkouts/clockouts..
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Also, It's not on top of customer receipts. It's only on reports/checkouts/clockouts..
edit I found this out just last night after posting this topic.
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@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
Also, It's not on top of customer receipts. It's only on reports/checkouts/clockouts..
edit I found this out just last night after posting this topic.
Are the reports formatted weird?
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@DustinB3403 said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
Also, It's not on top of customer receipts. It's only on reports/checkouts/clockouts..
edit I found this out just last night after posting this topic.
Are the reports formatted weird?
To my knowledge - no,
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@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
POS printers and POS systems are a whole other world than IT.
Different rules, different regs.Yes, biggest thorn in our sides. The only reason I can even begin to understand them is because I got my start programming for Print Bureaus, where everything that landed on paper was "different" than the rest of the world!
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@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
Also, It's not on top of customer receipts. It's only on reports/checkouts/clockouts..
edit I found this out just last night after posting this topic.
This is a real help. I would start with the folks that program the backend software running on your terminals. My bet is a change was made that throws the POSBank terms for a loop.
Try and stay focused on the root of the problem, changing to windows drivers, changing from serial to USB or network, or changing the emulation will only muddy the waters. You'll get it working, and then not remember what it was EXACTLY that fixed it if you don't make notes on every single key stroke! (can you tell I speak from experience? )
I do like the serial capture idea by Pete, a null modem serial cable and putty with logging turned on will get what you need post haste!
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@JasGot said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
POS printers and POS systems are a whole other world than IT.
Different rules, different regs.Yes, biggest thorn in our sides. The only reason I can even begin to understand them is because I got my start programming for Print Bureaus, where everything that landed on paper was "different" than the rest of the world!
its not that hard to figure out once you get into it.
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@JasGot said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
Also, It's not on top of customer receipts. It's only on reports/checkouts/clockouts..
edit I found this out just last night after posting this topic.
This is a real help. I would start with the folks that program the backend software running on your terminals. My bet is a change was made that throws the POSBank terms for a loop.
Try and stay focused on the root of the problem, changing to windows drivers, changing from serial to USB or network, or changing the emulation will only muddy the waters. You'll get it working, and then not remember what it was EXACTLY that fixed it if you don't make notes on every single key stroke! (can you tell I speak from experience? )
I do like the serial capture idea by Pete, a null modem serial cable and putty with logging turned on will get what you need post haste!
Ah well, That would be helpful but NCR aloha (from my understanding) wont support POSBank terminals.
Only NCR/Radiant hardware.. Im not sure they'd make a change if I sent in or tried to get help from them...
We're all in the business to make money. Nothing short of that. -
@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
its not that hard to figure out once you get into it.
I think you keep missing my point. We work with POS systems all day, everyday. They're stupid. We don't appreciate them. I think you might understand that, based on your question here. I suppose if you stay in a pigeon hole, you can learn to get along with POS systems, but the industry as a whole applies a different phrase to POS for very good reason.
I'm eager to share our knowledge, experience and troubleshooting techniques with you if you need some help. Right now, I'm most interested in the serial capature @Pete-S suggested.
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@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
Ah well, That would be helpful but NCR aloha (from my understanding) wont support POSBank terminals.
Only NCR/Radiant hardware.. Im not sure they'd make a change if I sent in or tried to get help from them...
We're all in the business to make money. Nothing short of that.I didn't mean to ask them to make changes, I meant to ask them what changes they made.
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@JasGot said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
@WrCombs said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
its not that hard to figure out once you get into it.
I think you keep missing my point. We work with POS systems all day, everyday. They're stupid. We don't appreciate them. I think you might understand that, based on your question here. I suppose if you stay in a pigeon hole, you can learn to get along with POS systems, but the industry as a whole applies a different phrase to POS for very good reason.
Its a frustrating "Field" of IT. especially because the whole reason for POS was so that people could get a damn receipt.
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@JasGot said in Epson Thermal Receipt printer issues:
I'm eager to share our knowledge, experience and troubleshooting techniques with you if you need some help. Right now, I'm most interested in the serial capature @Pete-S suggested.
and I'm eager to learn.
I'm Looking into the that option right now.
