Micros 3700 ws4

[azrobert]

Just throwing this out here to see if anyone has run into this problem before. we are on out 3rd install of Micros 3700 with ws4's and it has been working great so far. I recently started having a problem with terminals freezing up and locking tickets started on those terminals. we can reboot the terminal and everything is fine. the terminal doesn't seem to be completly froozen, you can still see a mouse arrow and move it on the screen but can not sign in with card or number pad until rebooted. the micros dealer seems to think it is a power issue and looking into that.

just thought i would see if anyone here has had a simmilar problem

 

[FoodtoGo]

I've seen power do strange things. Make your rep a deal, you'll pay for the UPS if the problem goes away after they install it. If it's still happens, your not out the money. I have done this before... And it was my power.. A grounding problem.. I paid them too.

Hope this helps

 

[azrobert]

I have the power conditioners on all of the terminals.
we replaced the router and none of the terminals froze up for a few days, thought i had it fixed till one froxe up today. would a ups do more for cleaner power than the conditioner that Micros installed ?

 

[Wildbar]

Might be not be relevent but Workstation 4's seem to have a problem with there card readers and credit cards with metal in the magnetic strip (ie The new Amex cards) We have seen this at several of our locations on several different Workstation 4's right after swiping one of those cards. Exact same symptoms as you are describing. Takes a terminal re-boot to fix.

 

[dmegalo]

I am the sole admin for 90 ws4's with res3.2 (and variuos others.) If you are stuck on a screen with a number pad try entering an employee sign in number or the admin sign in number then hit enter. I figure the machine is waiting for some kind of data entry. I know res3.2 does away with alot of the status bar prompts and your machine may be waiting for user interaction without a prompt to tell you so. It's worth a shot. Good luck.

 

[azrobert]

Thanks,

but the program is frozen at this point untill I reboot. It will not accept entry from number pad or any card swipe. I say the program is frozen because i get a mouse cursor on the screen that will move with touch so it seems like the ws4 is not frozen but the program is. still have not figured out a solution.........

 

[dmegalo]

There's a log file located in %micros%\res\pos\etc called 3700d. It's a text file that journals file access and things of that nature. It's worth looking at with a fine tooth comb too. Highly likely you'll see what the machine is hanging on. I would start at the last log entry and work my way to the first. Wish I had an exact answer for you.

 

[azrobert]

THanks !

i will take a look at that today

 

[mrmicros]

It would seem it's not a network issue as the terminal would tell you it's offline. So it seems to be power issue.
Only one terminal now so my question would be is a bar or kitchen printer run off that station and does the outlet of the printer have a conditioner. Power surges can travel through your printer cable to the terminal then to the router freezing your whole system.At the station make sure that all pos equip in plugged into that conditioner and NO other equipment is plugged into same circut as your pos. (beer fridges\blenders etc). There are testers available from local electricans that can record your power levels and spikes over a period of a day to see the problem.
Yes a conditioner is better than a standard UPS.
Good Luck...

 

[rkstu98]

Check or replace the compact flash cards in a terminal that is locking up regularly. Upgrade to 128mb

 

[azrobert]

thanks for all the support on this issue..... I still have not found the cause but it seems to have stopped (broken in)
freezing all by itself.......

I will try all of these solutions if it starts up again...

we are installing our 6th location now and everything seems to be going great!

 

[pmegan]

I did a decent size 3.2/WS4 installation, (18 terminals), last year that experienced similar problems. We went the power problem route too but it didn't help. The problem seemed to happen at random, but more often when they were busy. It took about 3 months of misery, but what we found was 2 dip switches on the autocut printers in the kitchens and bars were coming in set wrong.

I don't remember the numbers, but they the internal switched for the print buffer and handshake. The buffer was set to 4k instead of 40k, and the handshake was set to Xon/Xoff. With the buffer that low it only took a few checks with a lot of modifiers to choke one printer and start heading to the backup printer, which was already starting to choke on its own order. The result was funky printing problems and workstations hanging until the problem sorted itself out, which it usually didn't do.

Also make sure that hyperthreading is disabled on the server in the BIOS settings.

Pat