Troubleshooting Techtips for ID Card Printers

The output is too light or dark, or the output has wrinkles (streaks) in it.  Maintaining and calibrating the darkness level (RP1).

When a new printhead is installed, it may be necessary to adjust the darkness level. Please use the procedure outlined below for performing this minor adjustment.

Adjusting the RP1 potentiometer

1. Turn the printer power off, and remove the back cover.
2. The RP1 potentiometer controls the lightness/darkness of the printed image.
3. Install a full-color ribbon into the printer.
4. Run a Self Test print.
5. The self test will print 15 gray scale boxes. If the output appears too dark, adjust RP1 clockwise in 1/8th turn increments between self test prints until the desired output is achieved. If the output appears too light, adjust RP1 counter-clockwise in 1/8th turn increments. A rule of thumb is that the lightest gray box should barely be visible.

The printer expends more than one set of color panels while printing a card; the ribbon advances without stopping to print; or the black panel is partially or completely printed when the clear overlay should be applied.  Calibrating the ribbon Ssensor.

Before proceeding, be sure the ribbon is properly installed, with the unused portion of ribbon located on the right side of the printer (over the top of the card hopper) and that both portions of the ribbon sensor array are clean and clear of any dust or debris. If your printer is not equipped with ribbon sensor stabilizer clips (gray plastic clips mounted to the chassis walls just above either side of the ribbon sensor assembly) contact the Fargo Technical Support Group for assistance.

About the Calibration Procedures:
The calibration of the Persona requires a digital volt meter. The calibration of the Persona Plus, Cheetah and Cheetah II can be calibrated without a volt meter, but will require the removal of the back cover. Calibration of the Presto! System and Quatro can be accomplished without a volt meter and without the removal of any covers. Please follow the instructions below outlined for your particular printer product.

About the Ribbon Sensor:
The ribbon sensor array can be affected by exposure to direct light, such as sunlight, florescent and incandescent lighting. To ensure proper operation, the printer should be kept shaded from light while performing this calibration procedure. For your printer, it may be necessary to remove the back cover to expose the main circuit board for calibration of the ribbon sensor. As with all electronic devices, please observe basic ESD (Electro-Static Discharge) procedures and wear appropriate attire while calibrating this printer. Before proceeding, make positive contact with your hand or a grounding wrist strap and the bare metal chassis of the printer.

For the Persona printer

Tools required:
1 - Phillips screwdriver, size #2
1 - Small standard blade pocket screw driver
1 - Digital volt meter

Setting Up the Printer:

1. Install a 4-color ribbon (part numbers 81703 or 81707). Position the magenta (red-colored) panel from the supply spool across the top of the light-emitting portion of the ribbon sensor (an orange-colored light emitting from a small opening in the metal bar just to the left of the supply spool).
2. Securely close the printer's top cover. The painted metal cover of the top cover must be in place to prevent room light from affecting the sensor.
3. Remove the power cord from the printer.
4. Remove the back cover of the printer to expose the main circuit board.
5. Re-apply power to the printer.

Calibrating the Ribbon Sensor Array:

1. Attach the BLACK lead of the digital volt meter to the exposed metal chassis of the printer.
2. Set the meter to read DC volts in a range from 0 to 5 VDC.
3. Touch the RED lead of the meter to TP5, and note the voltage reading.
4. If the voltage reading is not +2.5 volts ( + 0.1 VDC deviation allowed), then adjust the potentiometer labeled RP2 until the reading stabilizes at +2.5 VDC (RP2 is a blue square box with a round white center, slotted to fit a small standard blade screwdriver. The letters RP2 are printed on the circuit board next to the blue square box).
5. After calibrating the ribbon sensor, run the Self Test from the printer.

For the PersonaPlus, Cheetah, Cheetah II and Persona II Printers

Tools required:

1 - Phillips screwdriver (used for removing the Back Cover)
1 - Small standard blade screwdriver.
1 - 4-color ribbon

Setting Up the Printer:

1. Install the 4-color ribbon into the printer. Position the magenta (red-colored) panel from the supply spool across the top of the light emitting portion of the ribbon sensor array (the sensor is located inside a small round opening in the metal bar located just to the left of the ribbon supply spool).
2. Securely snap the top cover closed. The painted metal cover of the top cover must be in place to prohibit room light from affecting the sensor.
3. Remove the parallel cable from the printer.
4. Remove the power cable from the printer.
5. Remove the back cover of the printer to expose the main circuit board.
6. At the lower left corner of the circuit board, locate a small, black rectangular box. There will be a bank of (8) white DIP switches along the edge of this box. On the PersonaPlus printer, this is the SW1 location on the back side of the printer. Press IN the first (3) DIP switches (#1, 2 & 3) located at left side of the black box. The rest of the DIP switches should remain in the UP position.

Calibrating the Ribbon Sensor Array:

1. Hold down the on-line button while re-inserting the power cable into the printer.
2. Release your finger from the on-line button once you have power to the printer.
3. Locate the RP2 potentiometer on the main circuit board (blue square box with an adjustable white, round center screw). Generally, the RP2 potentiometer will be located to the left-side-center of the main circuit board.
4. You may notice that one LED will be lit, either the On-Line or the On-Cancel.
5. Use the small-bladed screwdriver to turn the RP2 potentiometer.
6. While monitoring the status of the On-Line and On-Cancel LED's, adjust RP2 until both LEDs are turned OFF (Warning: RP2 has (2) stops, do not turn the POT screw beyond these stops, or damage may occur.)
7. Once both LEDs are OFF, the ribbon sensor calibration is complete.
8. Remove the power cable, and return the first (3) DIP switches to the UP position.

For the Presto! System and Quatro Printers

Tools required:

1 - Small standard blade pocket screwdriver
1 - 4-color ribbon
1 - Dark-colored notepad (or similar object)

Setting Up the Printer:

1. Install the 4-color ribbon into the printer. Position the magenta (red-colored) panel from the supply spool across the top of the light-emitting portion of the ribbon sensor array (this is the short metal bar protruding from the rear chassis wall just to the left of the ribbon supply spool).
2. Close the printhead assembly securely, while leaving the top cover open.
3. With the top cover open, locate the rectangular opening on the left side of the machine. Just inside the opening are (4) small, white switches aligned in a row vertically. The switches are labeled 1 through 4, with the top switch being number one.
4. With the tip of a small-bladed screwdriver, click switch number one towards the rear of the printer to turn the switch on.
5. At the top and middle of the printer, just to the rear of the printhead assembly, there is a Lid Switch. Use a piece of clear tape, and tape the switch in the DOWN position.
6. Disconnect the camera cable from the back of the printer.
7. Disconnect the power cable from the back of the printer.
8. Place the notepad over the printhead assembly to shield the sensor array from light.

Calibrating the Ribbon Sensor Array:

1. On the front control panel of the Presto!, hold in the on-line button.
2. Plug the power cable into the back of the printer while continuing to hold the on-line button.
3. Release your finger from the on-line button once you have confirmed power to the printer by watching the LCD display.
4. You will notice that one LED will be lit, either the On-Line or the On-Cancel.
5. On the right side of the printer you will see (3) round openings in the metal cover. Through the opening in the middle there is a potentiometer (RP2) for adjusting the sensitivity of the ribbon sensor.
6. Use the small-bladed screwdriver to turn the RP2 potentiometer (pot). While monitoring the status of the On-Line and On-Cancel LEDs, adjust RP2 until both LED's are turned OFF. (Warning: RP2 has 2 stops; do not turn the pot screw beyond these stops.).
7. Once both LEDs are off, the ribbon sensor calibration is complete.
8. Remove the power cable, the tape from over the Lid Switch and the notepad. Turn switch number one to the off position (move the switch towards the front of the printer). Replace the ribbon if necessary, and close the top cover. Re-apply power when you are ready.

Maintaining and Calibrating the Card Sensor (RP3)

When the card sensor is moved or replaced, the lengthwise print position on cards can be affected. This sensor provides the precise position of the card's leading edge as it is presented to the printhead. If the card position is incorrect, it may cause ribbon breakage between the yellow and clear (or black) panels of the ribbon or cause the ribbon to get stuck in the platen roller.

Adjusting the RP3 Potentiometer:

1. Turn power off, and remove the back cover of the printer to expose the main circuit board.
2. The RP3 potentiometer controls the position of the printed image. While looking at the main circuit board from the back of the printer, RP3 is located on the left-hand side of the board, near the RP1 (darkness) potentiometer.
3. Install a full-color ribbon into the printer.
4. Run a self test print according to the instructions in Section 2.05.
5. On the self test print, measure the distance from the edge of the plastic card to the inside edge of the printed lines at the leading and trailing edges of the card. Compare; their distances should be equal.
6. If the distances are equal, adjust RP3 counter-clockwise in 1/8th turn increments to move the image more toward the trailing edge. Adjust RP3 clockwise in 1/8th turn increments to move the image more toward the leading edge. Print a self test after each adjustment to check your progress.
7. If the ribbon is breaking or jamming, and you are unable to generate the self test, turn the RP3 about 1/8th of a turn counter-clockwise, clear the jam and try to print the Self Test again.

Troubleshooting Tips:

1. If the printer behaves as if a card is in the feed path (the main stepper motor is activating when power is applied), and then the on-line indicator light blinks, the slots of the card sensor may be obscured.
2. To remove dust or debris from the card sensor, use a can of compressed air to blow between the upper and lower portions of the card sensor pin.

Laminating with PolyGuard when the On-Line Indicator Light flashes and errors out

This procedure should be used (a) when laminating and the PolyGuard lamination chip is not properly placed on the card, causing card and ribbon jams at the lamination station, or (b) when the printer goes offline when the printer is ready to laminate and is having difficulty detecting the PolyGuard registration marks.

Tools required:

1 - Phillips screwdriver
1 - Digital DC volt meter
1 - Standard blade pocket screwdriver

Preparation:

1. From the back of the printer, disconnect the parallel cable, and turn off the power switch.
2. Remove the back cover of the printer to expose the main circuit board.
3. Install a roll of PolyGuard overlaminate into the printer, and close the top cover.
4. Set the digital volt meter to read a range of 0 - 10 VDC.
5. Attach the black (negative) lead to the bare metal chassis of the printer.
6. Turn on the power switch to the printer.

Calibration Procedure:

1. Locate the J9 connector on the main circuit board, and with the red (positive) lead of the digital volt meter press the tip onto the metal, connector of the blue-colored wire (top pin of J9).
2. Look at the display of the volt meter; it should read about 0.75 volts if the clear section of the ribbon in is in front of the assembly - lower lam sensor, or about 4.0 volts or higher with the registration mark blocking the sensor.
3. If you see the voltage is somewhere in between these two ranges, open the top cover, and look at the PolyGuard overlaminate to see where the black registration mark is. If the clear area is over the assembly - lower lam sensor, close the top cover, and adjust RP4 (MARK) until the voltage is about 0.75 VDC (voltage must be less than 1.0 volt).
4. Here's a tip for moving the registration mark in front of the assembly - lam sensor to test its operating range: From the back of the printer, just to the right of the main circuit board, locate the ribbon drive motor assembly (item #8, drawing 8208XX) of the lamination station. There is a partially exposed gear at the lower part of the assembly. With your index finger, slowly rotate the gear counter-clockwise while watching the display of the volt meter. When you see the voltage increase suddenly, the registration mark should now be in front of the sensor. You should see the voltage increase to about 4.0 VDC or higher. When the registration mark is past the sensor, the voltage should drop back to 0.75 volts.

Troubleshooting Tips:

1. If you do not see the voltage shift as indicated in step 4 (above), then the assembly - lower lam sensor may be obscured by debris. Take a can of compressed air, carefully blow through the opening of the sensor, and try the procedure again.
2. You can increase the amount of orange light emitting from the sensor when you turn the RP4 potentiometer counter-clockwise. If the light does not change in intensity or is completely black, the assembly - board LED of the assembly - lower lam sensor should be replaced.
3. If you can see the light intensity change, but it makes no effect on your voltage reading from J9, be sure the tip of the red test lead is making good contact with the metal fork of the connector.
4. If the meter is working correctly, the test lead is making good contact, and still the voltage does not change, then the assembly - board LED of the assembly - upper lam sensor should be replaced.

I'm having trouble printing from my computer.

In the best scenario, you want to print flawlessly from your primary software program. However, to eliminate uncontrollable variables, it may be necessary to test your printer using more simple measures. To determine how your system is configured for best performance, it will be necessary to operate within a Windows environment, such as version 3.1x, Windows 95 or Windows NT (with the appropriate NT driver).

Close the software program, and simplify the hardware/software settings.

1. Check the printer driver. Check your operator's manual, making sure you have correctly followed all suggestions for installing the printer driver (especially if you removed an obsolete driver). Also double check to make sure you have chosen the correct setup options within the driver.
2. Always use a double-shielded parallel cable, no longer than 6 feet in length (preferably an
   I-EEE 1284-compliant type cable). Many times data transmission failure can be attributed to a long or faulty parallel cable. If black resin text smears or is too dark, colors are misregistered, or if the output is garbled, radio frequency interference (RFI) may be the cause. A double-shielded cable may reduce the effect of radio emissions from other computers, monitors or other equipment which may broadcast RFI.
3. Do not use an A/B switch box in line with the parallel cable, as this may interfere with data transmission. Even if you have been successfully using a switch box up until this moment, it is best to remove the box while testing communication between your computer and the printer. If you need the switch box, it can always be replaced later, once you've proven interference was not caused by the box.
4. Try printing a test card from a simple program. We suggest using Write (a Windows 3.1x word processing program found in the Accessories Work Group) or WordPad (a Windows 95 and NT word processing program in the Accessories Program Group). Open the program and type: "This is a Test". Then go to File on the menu bar, and select Print.

What options do you have selected in the printer driver?

1. Changing driver settings in Windows 95: There have been reports that after selecting an option in the printer driver from within a software program , these same options later reverted to their previous defaults. Windows 95 is a complicated, 32-bit operating system with multi-tasking capabilities, and there are still third-party programs with issues to be corrected. So, we suggest that when making a change to the printer driver options, it is best to close out of the software program you're using and make the changes from the Desk Top \ Start \ Settings \ Printers menu. This way you can directly affect changes to the printer driver without the influence of your software program.
2. Unusual and intermittent operation of printer functions can be affected by the Windows 95 operating system and your software program. Make certain the selected options in the printer driver from the Desk Top \ Start \ Settings \ Printers menu match the settings in your software programs, printer setup. In some software programs during the time a card format is created, the current printer options selected may be saved as part of the format. If the printer driver settings were not correct the last time the format was saved, it may cause errors to occur next time you print cards.

Are you trying to magnetically encode cards?

If you are having difficulties with magnetic encoding, refer to your operator's manual for a description of how magnetic encoding functions with your Fargo ID Card Printer. There are helpful examples which explain how to encode a simple line of text from your computer.

1. If you want to test the magnetic encoder from the printer, you can enable DIP switch number 2 and run the self test. This will put data onto all three tracks but will not print anything onto the card. This will allow you to test the printer alone and read data from a magnetic card reader. Disable DIP switch number 2, and turn the printer power OFF and ON when you have completed this test.
2. If you are encountering difficulty with the magnetic verification pass (the card is ejected after encoding without being printed and the on-line error light is flashing), verify that you are using the correct coercivity level cards with your printer. Otherwise, you can disable the verification pass by enabling DIP switch
   number 3.

Printing difficulty increases over time.

This symptom may indicate a loss of useable memory space on your computer. As more cards are printed and computer errors become more regular, the RAM of the computer and/or hard drive space may be getting used up. Restart your computer, open the TEMP directory, and delete any *.tmp files. Run Scandisk from the DOS prompt to see if there are any lost clusters or other correctable anomalies within the hard drive, then run the Defrag program on your computer and optimize the hard drive. If this doesn't help, there may be a missing or corrupted file in the Windows operating system or the software program that you are using. Take necessary precautions to save your database files, then remove and reinstall your software program. If this does not correct the problem, reinstall Windows. This problem also may relate to the architecture of your computer; see the following section.

What brand and model of computer are you using?

Believe it or not, the architecture of the computer can influence how well an ID card printer performs. Here is a list of a few brand-name computers and peripherals which may require special settings in order to function properly.

1. Compaq computers: The latest brands of DeskPro and Prolinea computers are known to use Virtual ECP parallel port settings. Virtual ECP port settings will cause the printer to stall between color panels or misprint the color passes. Misregistration of colors may occur. These errors generally occur without any error lights from the printer. There are also a number of undefined, intermittent errors which may occur during the process of printing batches of cards. The best solution is to contact the Compaq Technical Support group to receive a Standard Parallel Port File for your particular computer model. The phone number is 1.800.652.6672.
2. ACER computers: Specifics are not available, but there have been a number of reported encounters with poor hard drive and software configurations. One of the main symptoms is a large number of General Protection Faults originating while trying to print cards. The troubles may be intermittent at first and progressively become worse. Contact the ACER Technical Support Group directly if you encounter symptoms such as this.
3. Diamond Stealth and Diamond Viper graphics accelerator cards: The factory software drivers for these Graphics Display Cards (used for improving the capability of your VGA monitor and software programs) can cause direct GDI (Graphics Display Interface) memory errors when printing. These factory drivers are known to conflict with other badging software packages, causing intermittent General Protection Faults or freezing up the computer system. The kinds of errors encountered when printing have been intermittent text and graphics drop-out. If you are in Windows 95 or NT, and are restricted to the use of Diamond brand accelerator cards, use the Windows provided driver instead of the factory driver. If you are in Windows 3.1x, we suggest using another brand of accelerator card, such as the ATI Mach 32 or 64 models.

Are you connected to a network?

1. We suggest using an Ethernet Interface Adapter which includes a parallel port and on-board memory. Fargo Electronics resells such a device (P/N 081511) which can be used with most of our ID card printers. This device can be remotely located along your Ethernet and any computer on the same network can address the device and execute print jobs. For details on the Ethernet Interface Adapter, contact the Fargo Electronics Technical Support Group at 612.941.0050, by fax 612.941.1852 or e-mail id.support@fargo.com
2. Other methods of printing over a network may be possible, but a sustained data rate must be maintained. Reference material for networking computers and peripherals are available at most local computer stores.

Clearing a Ribbon Jam

If the ribbon becomes jammed in the printer's platen roller, use the following procedure to clear the jam:

1. Leave the power on, and open top cover (s) assemblies of the printer.
2. Remove the ribbon take-up core (the side with used ribbon on it) from in between the ribbon drive hubs.
3. Firmly and steadily pull the ribbon up and out of the printer while holding down the printer's on-line button. Depressing the on-line button will rotate the platen roller backwards and eject the ribbon. Do not jerk the ribbon to free it from the roller, since this will increase the chance of ribbon breakage.

Clearing a Card Jam

If a card becomes jammed inside the printer, remove it using the following steps:

1. Leave the power on and open both top cover (s) assemblies of the printer.
2. Remove the ribbon from where the card is blocked if required.
3. Press the On/Cancel button to advance the card. Press the on-line button to reverse the card.
4. Place the ribbon back into the printer.
5. Close the cover (s). Turn the printer's power off and on again to clear its input buffer memory.
6. Press the Cancel button (or equivalent) in your application program and start the print job over again.

Networking

When using a HP Jet Direct Print Server in conjunction with Fargo Pro or Pro-L printers, the preferred parallel mode needs to be changed from the default Bitronics to Centronics. This change can be made through the jetadmin software utility that ships with the HP Jet Direct Print Server. When set for Bitronic may causes long delays before each print cycle.
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