Edge acting up again...

[SellersSign&Design]

After several months of trouble free operation, the Edge is broke down again. I ran several jobs through it a few days ago, then turned it off. An hour or so later I realized I had one more job to do, so I turned it back on and sent the job to the printer- nothing. When I click print in Flexi I can see the job go to Production Manager, it processes, RIPs, then disappears from the print log. The Edge never acknowledges a job was sent to it. After several cycles of turning it off and on and resetting it, it randomly showed a job, so I went ahead and loaded vinyl and foils and it was a job from several weeks ago. Then it popped up another job, so I kept going, and it kept printing old jobs from weeks ago even though nothing was showing in Production Manager. Where are these random old jobs going? It seems like that may be part of my problem, but everything that I can see is cleared out. Does the Edge have an internal memory that can be cleared?

 

[jfiscus]

At the last place I worked we had an EdgeFX that would randomly start acting funky like this.
The way I found to cure it was to turn off BOTH the computer AND the Edge at the same time for a minute. After restarting, both were happy again.

The Edge (1&2) here never seem to do this.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Both have been powered down, unplugged, and restarted. Actually they sat for a day or two unplugged and unhooked from each other, but still the same issue today. The last time it did something like this I had to go in and uninstall the drivers and then re-install everything. That was a nightmare, I'm trying to avoid doing that again.

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

Are you using a serial port or do you have a USB adapter? Are you sure the connection is good? I'm not familiar with Flexi because I use Omega Composer, so do you have a program that shows if the information is being sent? With Composer, it opens GSPlot which, when I send to the Edge, opens GQMgr. If I have the Edge offline, I can see the job waiting there, ready for the Edge to be put online. Do you have that option? If so, does it show the file sitting there, AND THEN disappears when you turn the Edge online?

 

[SellersSign&Design]

I am using a USB adapter. Flexi operates similarly to Omega, when I send a job to print or cut it opens up a program called Production Manager that shows everything. When I send the file it goes to Production Manager, shows it "processing", then "RIPing", then "printing" for split second, then it disappears completely.

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

Have you checked the cord? No problems with it? Attached correctly and secure?

Does the output display on the Edge show an error at all? Or just nothing?

If it's showing nothing, I would think something is wrong with the connection.

Are you able to plot the cutfile for that to your plotter?

 

[Sign Works]

I'm not printing to an Edge but I do use Flexi to run a thermal resin printer. I have had this happen in Production Manager a few times, somehow on it's own it changes the default setting of "Send Now" to "Hold in List", check to see if this has happened.

You can also check Production Manager's preferences "Send After Output" default setting should be Delete not Hold or Archive. If you Hold or Archive selected this is where those old random job info could be coming from.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Nothing has damaged the cord and it is connected correctly, so I don't see any reason that it would be causing the problem unless something internal is damaged. The Edge doesn't show anything when I send a file to it. But if I put it online and offline and reset it multiple times, sometimes it randomly pops up with one of the old jobs. Then if I try to reset it, it shows "DATA ERROR". The plotter is working fine but it runs off of a different connection. When I click print a box shows up showing differences between RIP/Print and Production Manager settings (this is normal), and "Driver Details Omitted" is listed in the box. However I have seen that before and it still printed fine.

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

If the connections are all good, then it's gotta be something in the software. Did you try what Sign Works said?

Sorry, I can't really help. I don't know Flexi or Production Manager. And it really doesn't sound like a hardware problem.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

It is set to delete the jobs after they print, but where to I go to find the send now or hold in list? I know I've seen it before but I can't find it now...

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Ok disregard that last question, I found it. It is set to send now. I am also thinking it is a software issue. I am using an aftermarket USB to parallel cable, but it has worked fine for hundreds of jobs. Maybe I'll just go ahead and buy the Gerber cable and see what happens, worst case I'll have a new $100 cable.

 

[Sign Works]

It is set to delete the jobs after they print, but where to I go to find the send now or hold in list? I know I've seen it before but I can't find it now...

When Production Manager opens to the General Tab/Screen it is right between the material settings and position settings. At least that's where it is on my old 6.5 version.

 

[TammieH]

Stupid question, have you tried different USB ports on your comp, they are known to go bad...actually have had fairly new computers with multiple USB ports with one bad port.

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

Stupid question, have you tried different USB ports on your comp, they are known to go bad...actually have had fairly new computers with multiple USB ports with one bad port.

Hadn't thought of that. But YES! I've had to switch my Gerber dongle to different USBs for this exact reason.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Switching ports fixed it... literally 30 seconds after I bought a Gerber cable for $130. Happy Friday to me! Oh and oddly enough I plugged my wireless mouse into the old port that I was using, and it works just fine.

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Two jobs down and still printing great! Thank you all for the help, I was about 2 minutes away from smashing this thing with a sledgehammer!

 

[Tony Teveris]

Define the "thing" you were going to smash now that you fixed it. PC, Production Manager, cable but not the Gerber, right?

 

[Fred Weiss]

Define the "thing" you were going to smash now that you fixed it. PC, Production Manager, cable but not the Gerber, right?

:dog42

 

[SellersSign&Design]

Define the "thing" you were going to smash now that you fixed it. PC, Production Manager, cable but not the Gerber, right?

"Thing" referred to everything, but yes most likely starting with the Edge. I hooked my new $100 cable up tonight and guess what, back to not printing again! So I said ok no big deal I'll go back to the old cable. Yep still not printing. It's just been one of those weeks.

 

[Techman]

the spooler holds print jobs.. past and present.

You have to clear the spooler to clear past print jobs.

You can find access to the spooler via the printer and devices tab on your computer.
Find the printers added to your machine. Click on the properties and check each one. in some cases the default printer will have jobs still listed. Cancel them and they go away.