SATO HT200e Operator's Manual page 150

SECTION 9: TROUBLESHOOTING
TROUBLES SHOOTING
INITIAL CHECKLIST
Is the printer powered up and ON-LINE?
1. If you are using a battery, is it installed correctly and fully charged?
2. If you are using an AC Power Module, is it installed correctly and connected to AC power
Are the labels correctly loaded?
USING THE RS232C SERIAL INTERFACE
1. Is the RS232C Serial cable connected securely to your serial port on the PC (DB- 25S or DB-
9S Male) and to the RS232C connector on the printer?
WARNING: Never connect or disconnect interface cables (or use a switch box) with power
applied to either the printer or the host. This may cause damage to the interface circuitry and
is not covered by warranty.
2. Is the cable defective? At the very least, you should be using a "Null Modem Cable," which
crosses pins in a specific manner. This should enable your printer to print. But we
recommend that you eventually use a cable built to specifications as described in Section 6:
Interface Specifications
3. Check for obvious errors in the data stream. Is the data properly framed with the <ESC>A
and <ESC>Z commands?
4. If after sending your job to the printer, it only "beeps" and displays an error message on the
LCD display, you may have a configuration problem. There may be some inconsistencies
with the Baud Rate, Parity, Data Bits, or Stop Bits in relation to your host computer. If you are
confused as to what the printer's current RS232 settings are, print a Configuration Test label.
It will list all of the current printer configuration settings.
5. If you've checked all of the above and the printer still isn't printing, you may want to try a
Buffer Hex or ASCII Dump to determine what (if anything) the printer is receiving from your
computer. See Hex Dump Mode in Section 7-6: Installation.
6. The port is now listening for incoming data. Send your print job. The printer will now print
(only once) a Hexadecimal Dump of everything it received from the host computer.
Each 2-digit hexadecimal character represents a character the printer received. It may be
tedious, but now you can analyze and troubleshoot the data stream.
7. While checking the Hex Dump printout, if you notice 0D
Feed) characters throughout. The command string should be continuous and no CR or LF
characters are allowed between the Start Command (<ESC>A) and the Stop Command
(<ESC>Z). If you are using BASIC, it may be adding these characters automatically as the
line wraps.
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0A (Carriage Return and Line
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SATO HT200e