The Letterville BullBoard: EDGE2 LPT Error-Communications Error

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Posted by Anthony Nuzzolo (Member # 1982) on :

Has anyone out there had a problem sending a job to the EDGE2 through Omega and received the following error while in the middle of printing:

Communnications Error on:
Cannot open LPT1:For Spooling~tmp35.tmp
Press F1 For instructions

Terminate or Restart Job

I've wasted 4.5 hours and probably have done the job for free-

Does anyone have any ideas??? The only thing I can say is that I printed fine all morning when my shop was cool. Now the temperature is above 85 degrees. Does the Edge2 have a temperature gauge?????

At this point I will pay for information.

A Very Frustrated Sign Guy,

Anthony

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Anthony Nuzzolo
South Shore Sign Co.
Staten Island, NY
stromboli_98@yahoo.com

Posted by R T Thomas (Member # 355) on :

Anthony,
Not knowing anything at all about the EdgeII or Omega, it sounds to me if you have a job spooling that has never finished the print (or cut). Try going into your Job Manager (spooler) and terminating any job in the cache. This might free it up to do the job you want it to do. Also, once that is done, reboot the computer to make sure everything goes back to default. Might help, might not. Worth a try.
See ya, R.T.

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R.T.Thomas,AirDesigns/Sign And Airbrush Studio rtart@earthlink.net
1209B Corinne St.
Hattiesburg,MS 39401
Shop 601-584-1000
Home 601-543-0271
Proud supporter of LETTERVILLE!
The best site on the net!!
"I yam what I yam and dat's all dat I yam"

Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :

Anthony,

I suspect your LPT1 port may have overheated or gone bad.

I would try a couple things to be sure...

1) Do a seach on your hard-drive and delete all TMP files.

2) Do a ScanDisk and then defrag the hard-drive.

3) Try printing a 2 or 3 different files and see if you still get the same error.

4) If none of that works, I would call Gerber tech support on Monday.

Meanwhile, you may also want to post your question to www.4edgetalk.com . It is a site dedicated to the Edge. Someone may have had the same problem and have an answer for you.

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Warning: A well designed sign may cause fatigue due to increased business.
http://members.tripod.com/taylor_graphics
walldog@nc.rr.com

Posted by Ken Henry (Member # 598) on :

Another possibility is that your printer cable has gone bad. If you have another printer...like an inkjet, switch cables with your Edge cable, and see if that corrects the situaton. Now try to print something on your inkjet printer. If the inkjet then won't work...your printer cable is the source of your problems. You can get a replacement cable at Staples, but take the old one with you so they'll be able to get the correct specs off it, and the right connection fittings.

I hope this helps you out.

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Ken Henry
Henry & Henry Signs
London, Ontario Canada
(519) 439-1881
e-mail kjmlhenry@home.

Some days you get to be the dog....other days, you get to be the fire hydrant.

Posted by Anthony Nuzzolo (Member # 1982) on :

Gentlemen,

As usual-Thanks again!

I'll try going to that web site and replacing the card. As far as defrag, virus scan and deleting all temp files-it still made no difference. I'll call Gerber on Monday

However, I still remember hearing something on thermal printing Foils becoming overheated??

Anthony

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Anthony Nuzzolo
South Shore Sign Co.
Staten Island, NY
stromboli_98@yahoo.com

Posted by Brian Snyder (Member # 41) on :

I had similar problems on long process jobs. Print/cut the job to a spool file and then print it from the spool file. When I called Gerber they went through a standard list of 10 or so questions and everything was ok. Then they told me the 15' cable is too long. (why include it with the machine then!!!???) After moving the Edge closer to the computer to accomodate using a 6' cable it still quit mid-print.
Someone at Gerber said "off the record, I think this will work...save it to a spool file and print it from there." Everything worked fine. Go figure.
I'd bet that the vinyl stopped going through the machine and it stop printing but you still here a motor turning in the Edge, right? It is a large tif or bmp you are printing?

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Brian Snyder
Sign Solutions
www.njsign.com
Woodbridge, New Jersey

Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :

Bryan,

If you have an Edge2 and it is stopping mid-print, call Gerber tech support. They are replacing bad motherboards at no charge. That is what they did for me just a couple months ago.

Also, on Gerber's website, there are some software updates you can download. One includes a patch for large bitmap files.

------------------
Warning: A well designed sign may cause fatigue due to increased business.
http://members.tripod.com/taylor_graphics
walldog@nc.rr.com

Posted by Anthony Nuzzolo (Member # 1982) on :

Brian,

You hit it right on the head! That is exactly what's happening. What have you done so far to fix it?

Glenn,

I saw the firmware upgrade, but do you think that will work? Have you experienced a similar problem?

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Anthony Nuzzolo
South Shore Sign Co.
Staten Island, NY
stromboli_98@yahoo.com

Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :

With electronics, anything is possible. Meanwhile, I'd follow Bryan's advice and try a shorter cable.

------------------
Warning: A well designed sign may cause fatigue due to increased business.
http://members.tripod.com/taylor_graphics
walldog@nc.rr.com

Posted by Bruce Evans (Member # 44) on :

A cable that is too long will cause an error to the edge 2 itself. Windows won't show you the error. I had a cable that was too long (12') and cut it down to 6ft. Haven't had the problem since.

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Bruce Evans

Posted by Brian Snyder (Member # 41) on :

Like I said, save the job to a spool file. Then open it in the Spooler and it'll work fine.

Glenn,
Thanks for the tip. I'll give them a call Monday. Wonder what it'll cost to ship the Edge to CT. I may be better off dropping it off myself!

Switching to a shorter cable didn't do anything to help me. Again, why does Gerber ship the machine with a 15' cable if they are supposedly too long? (rhetorical ?)

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Brian Snyder
Sign Solutions
www.njsign.com
Woodbridge, New Jersey

Posted by Glenn Taylor (Member # 162) on :

Bryan,

No need to ship the Edge for a new motherboard. You can put it in yourself in about 15 minutes. It's extremely easy.

As for the cable, mine is 15' long and I have no problems. I think its just one of those cases where "it just depends."

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Warning: A well designed sign may cause fatigue due to increased business.
http://members.tripod.com/taylor_graphics
walldog@nc.rr.com

[This message has been edited by Glenn Taylor (edited May 12, 2001).]

Posted by Keith Pedersen (Member # 246) on :

Brian,
I sent my edge to Gerber overnite it cost $180.00 fed ex one way they sent it back to me and it only cost $86.00 they told me they get a break because of volume.
Keith

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Keith Pedersen
Keith's Signs
Lincroft,NJ
732-530-9157

Posted by Anthony Nuzzolo (Member # 1982) on :

Gentlemen,

I will try a shorter cable and try printing directly from the spooled job window. However, the machine I am printing from has a security block in the USB port. Is there a way to put the EDGE on the network or is that only with the GERBER MAXX?

That would solve a lot of issues if the EDGE could have an onboard HP JET Direct Card?

What do you guys think?

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Anthony Nuzzolo
South Shore Sign Co.
Staten Island, NY
stromboli_98@yahoo.com

Posted by Golden (Member # 164) on :

I don't know if it will help you but I got a similar error message once when I hit F8 to send the cut file to the plotter while the EdgeII was printing. Since then, just to be safe, I either send the cut command prior to sending the print command, or afterwards. I didn't experiment to see if I could recreate the problem.

Also, when I have any kind of errors in GA or Omega, I find it best to close down both the computer and printer and do a cold boot. Sometimes one or the other will hold onto the problem until shut down and reset. I do this as a general method of operation in any program and printer.

I know you can run the Edge off a network. I did it one time just to see, but haven't done it in a long time. They have a tech sheet which explains it and it is probably on their web site. Maybe I am lucky, but I probably have 25 feet of cable between my machine and my EdgeII. You might want to ask Gerber before you do it, but I only had one parallel port on the new machine. The security block goes on LPT1 and the printer cable runs right through it. You might experiment with moving the settings for the Edge to LPT1 and move the cable and do a few test prints. The EDGEII requires an ECP card (enhanced communications port, I believe), if you are considering buying a new card. Most new computers have at least one ECP port, but maybe not both. Also, Gerber offers a USB security block option, which would free up the built in LPT1 port to be able to go directly to the printer without worrying about burning up the security block. I don't know how much that option is.

Good luck,
Mike Jackson

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Mike Jackson
Golden Era Studios
Jackson Hole, Wy
www.goldenstudios.com/

Posted by Anthony Nuzzolo (Member # 1982) on :

How do I print from a spooled file? What are the steps involved?

Best Regards,

Anthony

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Anthony Nuzzolo
South Shore Sign Co.
Staten Island, NY
stromboli_98@yahoo.com

Posted by Anthony Nuzzolo (Member # 1982) on :

Thanks!

I replaced my 12' Printer Cable (the one Gerber gives you when you buy the EDGE2) with a brand new 6' Belkin Cable.

I then cleared out the Seppath folder and cleared all temporary files and defragged once more.

I am happy to report 3 digital jobs later - no problems. I would also like to report that I opened 3 trouble tickets with Gerber and have not received one phone call back. That was 2 weeks ago.

I was also able to successfully create my "mock Candy Land" board game in Illustrator 8.0 at 150 DPI and export it as a PShop 5.0 File and added some extra effects.

Upon the final printout to the EDGE2-Awesome.

No fragging and I save about 50megs on saving it to a *.PSD file format-rather than a TIFF.

I worked in the exact size 2'x3' the whole time in Illustrator. I did all my text and complex shapes with Gradient Fills in Illustrator first. Then I exported the file as a PShop 5.0 file. With PShop 6.0 I added my pictures to the design and saved everything.

Everything printed out of OMEGA fine-minimal color fading, but I corrected it in PShop with the Contrast tool.

***The only thing that I would have like to have had was a Gerber Edge Color pallete that can be exported into Illustrator.

Is their such a plug in???

Thanks a Million!

This Website is better than any support desk that Gerber could possible offer.

Best Regards,

Anthony Nuzzolo
South Shore Sign Co.,

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Anthony Nuzzolo
South Shore Sign Co.
Staten Island, NY
stromboli_98@yahoo.com

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