IBM Infoprint 6500-v05 Maintenance Manual page 234

RibbonMinder Operation
minutes, at which point the printer will go into the fault state again. You can again return the printer to the READY state by
pressing START. This routine can be repeated indefinitely, or until power to the printer is turned off. Once power is restored
and a depleted ribbon is detected, "305 OLD RIBBON DETECTED / INSTALL NEW IBM RIBBON" displays, because the
depleted ribbon was added to the Ribbon Log (page 235). A new ribbon must be installed to clear this condition.
When Ignore RBN End is selected, the ribbon life display remains on the operator panel, and the RibbonMinder continues to
monitor ink consumption to the appropriate value as set by the Ribbon End Point (even though not enabled). When this end
point is reached, the display will continuously show "RIBBON LIFE 0%" ink available and the system will continue to run with no
other warning indications. The printer can be taken to NOT READY or the power cycled and RibbonMinder will permit the use
of this ribbon. However, when the ribbon reaches the calculated absolute end of life, the printer stops printing, the status
indicator flashes, the alarm sounds (if enabled), and the display switches to the "302 EXCESS RBN WEAR / INSTALL NEW
IBM RIBBON" message. The ribbon serial number is added to the depleted ribbon log (page 235). This fault cannot be cleared
by pressing START. It can only be cleared by opening the platen or cycling power, at which time the ribbon will now be
detected as a depleted ribbon. A new, recognized (authorized) ribbon must be installed to clear this fault.
Ribbon Installation And Detection
Although the spooled ribbon can be installed on either the left or right ribbon hub, the software assumes that the full spool will
be installed on the right-hand hub.
The new ribbon detection routine runs after printer power is restored, as part of the boot cycle, or whenever the platen is
opened and closed. When done as part of the boot cycle, Shuttle Slow runs the ribbon motors to the left, the bar code is read
off the bottom of the right ribbon spool, and the ribbon is confirmed. When the bar code is decoded, RibbonMinder is reset
using the new data, and the ribbon consumption display is updated. The ribbon motors and shuttle stop and the printer is
brought to the selected power up configuration. This routine repeats any time the platen is closed and the printer is returned to
the READY state and no print data are in the buffer. If no print data are present, the ribbon motors and shuttle stop and the
printer remains READY. If the ribbon bar code cannot be decoded, is not authorized, or is not detected by the sensor, an error
message is reported. If a data stream is detected during or after the ribbon detection routine, the print cycle begins without
stopping the shuttle or ribbon motors. In this case the ribbon detection routine is done during the print cycle.
Previously used ribbons can be installed and used again to print, as long as they were not fully depleted and declared 146
RIBBON INK OUT.
A ribbon can also be flipped over to print on the unused half. This situation occurs if printed images are narrow enough that only
about half the ribbon is used at one time. When a ribbon is flipped it is treated as a new (different) ribbon, so if a ribbon is used
across its full width and still flipped, it will report as new even though it is clearly used. It is the customer's responsibility to
determine if his or her application can support ribbon flipping.
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