Hardware

Q1: After a cash transaction, the cash drawer won’t pop open. What can I do?

The cash drawer is controlled by the receipt printer. To open the drawer, RMH POS sends an OPOS command to the receipt printer which sends a signal to the cash drawer. The Epson receipt printer is a network device so it must have the proper IP configuration. Follow these steps to troubleshoot:

Exit POS.

Press the <Esc> key (in an empty line item screen) to close down POS, click Yes to confirm.

Use the SetupPOS utility to test the receipt printer and cash drawer.

Search for SetupPOS. You can also find this program in the StartMenu under Epson. NOTE: you must be an administrator to run this program. A regular user will not be able to run the troubleshooting utilities.

Open

Run the setup utility. At the UAC message, click yes.

At the main screen, double click on POSPrinter on the right.

Open

Right click on TM-T88VIE, then click on Check Health Interactive.

Click the Start button on the window.

The result should print OPOS_SUCCESS along with a receipt like this:

If the receipt prints, click Close, click OK.

If the receipt doesn’t print or there is an error message, jump to the next step (troubleshooting the printer).

Let’s test the cash drawer. Double click on CashDrawer on the right.

Right click on StandardE, then click on Check Health Interactive.

Click the Start button on the window.

If the cash drawer pops open, click Close, click OK. Exit the setup utility.

If the cash drawer does not pop open, you may need to update the configuration parameters. Contact Foresight Automation for the proper configuration parameters.

Check the printer’s hardware connections.

Skip this step if the cash drawer popped open doing a Health Check.

Turn off the printer by pressing the black power switch on the front right of the printer.

Check the cables at the back of the printer. The Ethernet is on the right, the cash drawer in the middle, and the power cable on the left.

Wait 10 seconds, then turn the printer back on. The orange exclamation point will blink as it tries to obtain an IP address. After 30-40 seconds, the top icon (circular) will have a solid blue light. A receipt will print with network information:

Make sure the IP address of the printer is correct (P1 = .21, P2 = .22, P3 = .23, P4 = .24). If it is incorrect, RMH POS cannot communicate with it. If everything is correct, go back to the Setup POS utility to test the printer and cash drawer. Once the cash drawer responds to the Setup POS utility, we can move on to the application test.

If the receipt printer still does not respond the Setup POS utility, reboot the PC.

Use RMH POS to test the printer and cash drawer

Open POS and log in as a manager.

To test the drawer, perform a No Sale by pressing F8. Once the receipt printer prints a no sale receipt, the drawer should pop open.

Q2: I’m getting a POS error message about a TM-T88VIE device. What does that mean?

The device TM-T88VIE is the Epson receipt printer. Sometimes there is a communication error between the printer and RMH POS. To resolve this issue, follow the exact same troubleshooting steps as above for the cash drawer. If it still doesn’t work, you may need to reboot the PC.

Q3: The PAX S300 pin pad is not working properly or shows a black screen. How do I fix it?

If the screen is completely black, then the pin pad is not getting any power. Make sure the power cable is attached and the power socket is good. Some pin pads use a smart power plug for remote power control. If the smart plug is turned off, the power socket will not work. Either power on the smart plug or move the power cable to a working socket.

Pin pads can malfunction when they are powered on for a long time. We recommend a reboot at least once a week. Unfortunately, PAX S300 pin pads can only be rebooted by performing a power cycle. Here’s how to power cycle a PAX S300 pin pad:

1. Follow the thick black cable of the pin pad to the fan-out hub (about 2 feet away).

2. At the fan-out hub, disconnect the small black power cable (the L shaped barrel connector labelled PWR in this diagram).
   
   

    

3. Make sure the right pin pad is turned off; the screen should be completely black.

4. Wait for 10 seconds (very important).

5. Then, plug the power connector back in.

It takes about a minute for the pin pad to boot up. Once the pin pad displays Online, it can be used again.

Q4: The bar code scanner is not working properly. How do I fix it?

The bar code scanner is a USB device. To reset it, unplug it from the USB port on the back of the cash register PC. Clean out the USB port with an air blower. Then, plug the scanner back in.

If the scanner scans the bar code but doesn’t append a <CR><LF> to the end of each scan, then it needs to be re-configured. For Zebra (or Motorola) scanners, scan the following bar code:

Q5: None of the cash registers are working. When I run RMH POS, it gives an error message about not being able to connect to the database. What’s going on?

The cash registers store all of their transactions in a separate database server (located in the back office near the networking gear). When that server is down, RMH POS will not work.

Sometimes the database server gets turned off accidentally. In that case it needs to be turned on.

Sometimes the database server gets stuck on a reboot or a power outage. In that case, we need to access the console (either on-site or through AMT with remote KVM) to troubleshoot the reboot issue.