Micros 3700 IDN kitchen printer problem

[apoggi226]

Hello,

I am new member to the forum but have used this forum to help me troubleshoot some of my customers POS systems.

Ill start off with some information,

I do freelance work to get me through college and occasionally some customers call me with issues regarding their POS system. So far I have one customer that I maintain their ALOHA system. (I am not pos system expert, I learn as I go)

they recommended me to someone else who has a MICROS 3700 system.

I previously replaced their old battery backup on their BOH machine because they had a surge and the device went bad and everything worked great after that.
I received a call from them this morning stating that their printer in the kitchen wasn't working.

now I gathered some information form them and looks like one of the kitchen guys replaced the ribbon, but prior to that everything worked.



its a remote printer that has two IDN ports that goes straight into the wall.
theres an LED that flashes once every second or so, and the dip switches are all on the "ON" side or position.
there is currently no error light on the printer.

right now whenever a job is sent to the kitchen it gets routed to workstation 2 as a backup. (they have two work stations and the BOH is connected to the cash drawer)

I get an error regarding no communication.

Im convinced it could be the cable itself or the kitchen guy messed the printer.

looks like an RJ11 cable to me.

is there anything I should try?
Ill be back there tomorrow morning to give it another shot.

 

[TobeThor]

if all the dipswitches are indeed on (or even off), that's an issue.
Dip #4 on = IDN #1
Dip #3 on = IDN #2
Dip #4,3 on = IDN #3

The POS can't find the ptr # it's looking for, set dips accordingly then self test the printer. ALSO put tape or a blank RJ12 connector in the ptr's cash drawer kick port to avoid damaging the Micros interface card; if someone plugs the RJ12 cable into the CD Kick it will oftem damage the interface as well as the POS unit that is sending the signal.

 

[apoggi226]

Thank you, I will give that a shot tomorrow morning and get back to you with results.

 

[pmegan]

You can find the correct ID for the printer in the POS Configurator:
Devices tab / Devices button / Printer Interface tab.
Select the printer that isn't working and look at the IDN ID field.

Generally the check printer for the controlling workstation is IDN #1 and the remote printers use #2 or 3.

 

[apoggi226]

Okay,

so I went back this morning and i performed a self test on the printer. It prints fine so now I can rule out that the printer itself is not the problem

I decided to set its IDN ID to 15 and leave the comport at 4 (which is its default)

changed the settings in the POS configuration and it worked

tested the main machine with cash drawer, fine, tried 1st work terminal, fine

the problem comes now when I try from the 2nd terminal, it shoots me another communication error and then none of the other work stations can no longer communicate with the printer.

changed the ID number on the printer, changed the settings accordingly in the system and same thing, first two work but then the third gives me the same error and then none of them can print.

im stumped. I would really like to get this working seeing as I cannot charge them for something I cannot fix, and even if not cash is exchanged, I would at least like to figure this out and overcome this challenge

 

[pmegan]

Ok. Sounds like you're shooting yourself in the foot. If the printer has been working all along there's not really a need to change the printer ID; it was probably just dip switches getting messed up.

Try rebooting one of the workstations that won't print. If it's an older system there's a chance that the workstations haven't all picked up the config changes.

 

[apoggi226]

pmegman, your a probably right.

i called the owner told them to restart. they said they would get back to me at the end of the day with the results.

so far you guys have been a great help trying to figure this out.

thank you!

 

[apoggi226]

Okay,

So i havent been able to check up for about a few days now.

went in, tried again. changed DIP settings to 5 because that seemed to work last time. No go.

I installed remote software so I can work from home

So i told them, Ill try some more and if you want to call MICROS support thats fine.

On my way back home I get a call, it works but its printing doubles.

any idea what is going on?!?

 

[Moregelen]

Do you have more than one Order Device configured for the node? If two order devices are pointed at it, it won't really care. Ask them if both doubles are exactly the same (specifically, the header/foot). Its possible they were doing some oddball print routing.