10/100Mbps Fast Ethernet Print Server
11.1 General Troubleshooting Overview
The most common problems, which cause the FPS-5P-D to perform improperly, are covered in this chapter. If a problem still exists after reading this chapter, please contact your dealer for technical support.
The FPS-5P-D is equipped with three LED lights to assist in diagnosing problems that are the result of the network and/or the FPS-5P-D hardware itself.
Power (Red)When this light is on, the FPS-5P-D unit is properly connected to the power adapter.
Status (Green)When the FPS-5P-D unit is powered on, the Status LED will flash five times as part of the units Power On Self Test (POST). This indicates that the FPS-5P-D hardware is properly configured. This LED, however, may flicker whenever the data are being transmitted and printed.
Note: Make sure that the Orange LED flashes five times (POST) upon connecting the power. If the unit does not flash five times, contact your dealer for a replacement or repair.
If the network cabling is Twisted-Pair Cable, and when this light is ON, the Twisted-Pair cable connection is problem free.
In most cases, the FPS-5P-D fails to send and receive network data due to incorrect use of the network cable and/or to connector problems. Twisted-Pair Cable is 10BaseT/100BaseT 8-wire Unshielded Twisted-Pair Cable. The pin assignments for the RJ-45 connector used for this cable must conform to the UTP cable specifications.
The FPS-5P-D requires an external AC power adapter in order for it to function. If you have a power problem, check to see whether the power cord or its connectors are damaged. More importantly, check to see that the AC power adapter included with the FPS-5P-D matches the AC voltage in your country or area. Using an incorrect AC adapter will damage your FPS-5P-D.
11.5 Print Port Related Problems
Printing data failure may be caused by a loose connection of the FPS-5P-D to the Centronics parallel port of the printer. Check to see if any of the pins on the 36-pin connector are damaged. In addition, check the cable connection. If the pins are damaged, contact your dealer for a replacement connector.
11.6.1 Multi-Segment LAN Environment Installation (through the Network Print Port)
If your FPS-5P-D and Windows 95/98/NT are located on two different segments, and your Windows NT server is used as the router/gateway you will need to implement the following procedures in order for your FPS-5P-D to function properly:
11.6.2 RIP for NWLink IPX/SPX compatible transport Installation Procedure
If the FPS-5P-D is moved from one network segment to another after the initial installation, through the Network Print Port, the FPS-5P-D must be reconfigured on the original Windows NT server or on each Windows 95/98 computer using this FPS-5P-D in order for the FPS-5P-Ds driver on each computer to re-establish a new connection.
11.8.1 FPS-5P-D Reconfiguration Procedure on Windows 95/98
11.8.2 FPS-5P-D Reconfiguration Procedure on Windows NT
If you are using the FPS-5P-D through the Network Print Port on your NT or Windows 95/98 computer and your computer is going to be moved onto another segment, you have to reconfigure the FPS-5P-D on your computer to use your FPS-5P-D. However, this situation is like moving the FPS-5P-D to a new segment. Please refer to the Moving the FPS-5P-D to a new segment section for more detailed reconfiguration instructions.
Many printing problems can be traced back to incorrect or incomplete FPS-5P-D installations. It is always wise to check the installation configurations first.
In some cases, if necessary, delete the FPS-5P-D, print queue(s) or other setting(s). Next recreate the necessary parameters or reconfigure the FPS-5P-D by running the PSAdmin.
When you are configuring a new FPS-5P-D on your NT/UNIX server through LPR Port printing under TCP/IP protocol, you might encounter the following problem in your initial installation steps:
" I can do the "arp" command. However, when I am going to ping or tftp the FPS-5P-D, it always shows Request timed out. I have checked the FPS-5P-Ds power and it exactly passed the POST. Besides, the network cabling is OK. As such, I can't do tftp command to get and put the FPS-5P-D's configuration file and save its IP address permanently. I can't, therefore, continue installing the FPS-5P-D."
Regarding this problem, there are three possible causes:
If this is the case, please ensure the Node ID field in the corresponding entry of the FPS-5P-D's IP address in NT's ARP cache table is correct by typing the following command at NT's DOS prompt.
"arp -a"
If the Node ID shown on the screen doesn't match the FPS-5P-D's Node ID, please follow the instructions below to reset the entry.
If this is the case, please consult your network administrator to obtain an unused IP address for your FPS-5P-D.
(This troubleshooting guide will also apply to a multiple-segmented network while installing the FPS-5P-D)
For example, assuming the FPS-5P-D is on Segment A, NT server is on Segment B, and there is a gateway computer between Segment A and Segment B. The network might be a complete TCP/IP network, or a hybrid of TCP/IP and IPX/SPX network.
If this is the case, you have to adopt the following steps, depending on which platform the gateway computer is.
You have to do the same "arp" command to specify an entry on the NT/UNIX computer as a gateway in order for it to forward your subsequent "ping" or/and "tftp" commands to the FPS-5P-D.
For the purpose of explanation, we assume the NT server is on Segment A and its IP address is 192.72.214.66 (subnet mask: 255.255.255.224), the FPS-5P-D is going to be installed on Segment B, with IP address, for example, 192.72.214.100.
Question A
While running the PSAdmin, the Disconnected message is displayed under Status.
Possible explanations
Solutions
Question B
Print jobs are sent to the print queue successfully, but fail to be sent to the printer.
Possible explanations
Solutions
Question C
Print jobs start printing, but print very slowly or print unknown characters.
Possible explanation and solution
A printer driver is missing or is incompatible with that printer. Using a print driver that is not specific for the printer can cause printing errors. Install the proper printer driver. If these printer drivers are not available to you, please contact your printer manufacturer.
Question D
The upgrading process indication bar stops and does not seem to proceed again while upgrading the FPS-5P-D.
Possible Explanation
There might be a network problem. This causes the upgrading procedure to fail.
Solutions
Question E
The Status LED light keeps blinking after POST.
Possible explanation and solution
The last upgrade process was not completed. The FPS-5P-D must be upgraded again by using the PSAdmin. Please see Chapter 10 for details.
Question F
The PSAdmin reports Create Print Server Error, Create Printer Error, or Create Print Queue Error while using Auto Setup.
Possible Explanation
The print server name, the printer name, or the print queue name you specified in the Auto Setup dialogue box contains a space.
Solution
Check to see if there is a space in the print server name, the printer name, or the queue name. Type in a new name without a space between two characters or replace a space by a dash (-) or an underscore (_).
Question G
The PSAdmin reports Print Server Already Exists, Printer Already Exists, or Print Queue Already Exists after specifying the print server name, or the print queue name in Auto Setup.
Possible Explanation
A same print server name or queue names exists in the specific NetWare file server as the one you specified in the Auto Setup dialogue box.
Solution
Specify a new print server name or queue name in the Auto Setup.
11.13.1 EPSON Stylus Color series (inkjet printers)
When using the FPS-5P-D with an EPSON Stylus Color series printer under Windows 95/98 system through the Network Print Port, you might encounter the problem as follows.
"I connected a FPS-5P-D to my EPSON Stylus Color printer and followed every steps in the Chapter 4. No any problem happens during the installation. Besides, I have completely installed the printer driver specific to my EPSON Stylus Color printer. When I printed the test page, there was nothing come out from my printer. Printing from any application had the same result. However, when I changed the EPSON Stylus Color printer to a HP LaserJet printer or a dot-matrix printer, there was no any problem happened. This situation confused me ! What should I do ? "
Explanation:
When installing the printer driver of any EPSON Stylus Color series printer, an EPSON proprietary Spool Manager will also be installed into your Windows 95/98 computer. When you print jobs to this printer, this Spool Manager will be automatically launched and intercept the standard Windows 95/98 printing control flow. As a result, this Spool Manager overrides the FPS-5P-D's underlying printing control component, which is implemented as a standard Windows Print Monitor, and prevents the print jobs from being serviced by the FPS-5P-D on the network. Therefore, this is a special problem caused by vendor's proprietary printer software.
Solution:
According to our intensive test, this problem happens only while printing to an EPSON Stylus Color series printer through the Network Print Port under Windows 95/98 systems. File server based printing, namely printing through NetWare or NT (from Windows 95/98 computers) causes no such a problem.
If it is the case, please follow the instructions below to solve this problem.
Procedures:
11.13.2 Panasonic KX-P6100/6300/6500
If you are using a Panasonic KX-P6100/6300/6500 laser printer with the FPS-5P-D through the Network Print Port under Windows 95/98, please redirect the printer named Panasonic KX-P6100 PCL or Panasonic KX-P6300 PCL, or Panasonic KX-P6500 PCL to the FPS-5P-D through the Network Print Port.
DO NOT redirect the printer named Panasonic KX-P6100 GDI, Panasonic KX-P6300 GDI, or Panasonic KX-P6500 GDI to the FPS-5P-D.
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