Production Manager suddenly crashing

[choucove]

Just today we have started experiencing an issue on our Windows XP RIP going to a JV3-130 printer. This system has been running fine for months until today suddenly when trying to rip from Flexi into Production Manager, the Production Manager screen doesn't even load. You can open up the task manager and both the Flexi and Production Manager are listed in running processes, but both are labeled as Not Responding.

They have already tried to reinstall FlexiSign Pro v8.1 and reinstalled the JV3 print drivers in XP and neither action seemed to fix the issue. It definitely seems now to be an issue with the Flexi software and not the Mimaki driver like I first thought.

Do you have any ideas what I can try to help fix this issue? Clearing preferences? Try reinstalling again?

Thanks in advance for all of your help and input!

 

[signguy 55]

Never had to deal with Flexi and a printer, but about once every six months my PM locks up when I send to my Roland plotter. Clearing preferences always works, it's worth a shot.

Maybe Bobby Fosson can help you out more, he's the Flexi expert here.

 

[choucove]

Never had to deal with Flexi and a printer, but about once every six months my PM locks up when I send to my Roland plotter. Clearing preferences always works, it's worth a shot.

Maybe Bobby Fosson can help you out more, he's the Flexi expert here.

This is something that I will have them try. I was assuming that reinstallation of the FlexiSign software would automatically reset the preferences and clear that all out, but I might very well be mistaken. Thank you for the help!

 

[GAC05]

You might also check where it is keeping it's temp or "hold" files and empty out that directory.
This has done it for me.
If your PM is on the same system as your main Flexi program you might check to see if "connect through TC/IP" is unchecked. When mine is active the PM can take a long time to load and some times ends up not loading at all - even when the task manager shows that App2.exe is running.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Stealth Ryder]

You might also check where it is keeping it's temp or "hold" files and empty out that directory.
This has done it for me.
If your PM is on the same system as your main Flexi program you might check to see if "connect through TC/IP" is unchecked. When mine is active the PM can take a long time to load and some times ends up not loading at all - even when the task manager shows that App2.exe is running.

wayne k
guam usa

Yeppers, I would go this route...

 

[choucove]

Wayne, I'm not that familiar with Flexi, but thank you very much for your advice I will have them look into that. I'm not sure that the crew will know how to get to the proper folder you are mentioning, and I don't know either how to direct them over the phone to find it, so would you mind explaining a little more how I can locate that proper temp folder? Should I have them just completely wipe their entire temporary files folder?

Additionally the settings for "connect through TC/IP" is something I hadn't heard of. Where can this option be found so they can check if it is selected or not? Again, I'm not sure how it could have gotten changed over the weekend as it had been working just fine for them on Friday and for the last several months before as well.

 

[GAC05]

Both these options are in the "preferences" that you open up from the "Edit"
menu drop down.
One is in the main program and the other in the Program Manager.
I also remove most of the files from my job folder after I make sure I no longer need them or they are in the archive directory.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[choucove]

This morning we attempted the fixes that were suggested above but did not fix the problem. Removed all temporary files from Flexi, but Production Manager fails to load.

She explained in a little more detail to me what is actually being seen with this. When they go to Rip & Print, the logo for Flexi8 Production Manager opens. After that, a single window opens (called just Rip And Print) that has the job layout and where you can select the destination printer (which usually but not always has the JV3-130 listed in the print list.) Additionally if they try to click or do anything within this window then it freezes and crashes Production Manager and Flexi. However, the window that does NOT open and what the NEED open is the other production manager window (top title bar says Production Manager) that allows them to stop a job, trash a print, view its output progress, add a new setup, etc. Note that this is the window I believe Wayne was describing above to go in and locate the temporary folder location. Since we can't open that window to get to the preferences, the only temporary folder location we can find is the one within the Flexi preferences.

I had her also attempt to reset preferences to factory default, as well has had her attempt to connect to Production Manager with the "Connect through TCP/IP" option check and unchecked with no difference in results.

If they try to open up Production Manager alone, when Flexi is closed, then the logo comes up as if it is loading, and at the bottom task bar it shows the program up and running. However, no Production Manager windows actually open at all, and if you open up task manager it shows the process as Not Responding.

Any other ideas to try here?

 

[choucove]

Alright got this one fixed finally. Inside the Flexi program files is a preference manager I did not know about beforehand that will reset to factory default more of the preferences than what the "clear preferences" does within the preferences tab of Flexi itself. After loading all the default settings we could then remove the old printer option from Production Manger and reload the printer configuration.