Deeper Detail
Just some deeper detail here...
When the printer is reading the pinch wheels, it uses the pinch wheel sensor which is on the back of the cut carriage. This is transmitted to the servo board via the cut carriage cable.
The sensor that reads the linear encoder strip is on the print carriage. The linear encoder strip is only used by the machine to know where the print carriage is along the linear rail.
You can have a hole in your linear encoder strip, and it will still find the pinch wheels. It just wont print where the hole is... (Yes I've seen this)
I will replace a cut carriage cable in an SP-series machine at least once every few weeks. It's a known issue, and there is a field service note from Roland.
Don't delay in resolving this issue.
~E
BTW... Roland revised the way the cut carriage cable works on the VP and newer machines.