Troubleshooting—Chapter 4
35PK80 Series 80-Column User’s Manual
When the self-test is performed, the following actions occur:
S Voltage and ambient temperature are obtained
S Validity of diagnostic block program is checked
S Validity of BootBlock program is checked
S Validity of control program is checked
S Validity of loaded fonts is checked
S Self -test report is printed
The self-test report is divided into sections. See page 36 for a sample.
The printer model number is given on line 1 (first line). This identifies the printer type being used, su ch as PK80F.
The serial number of the printer is listed on line 3 under the “Serial#” heading on line 2. The serial number is also
ontheinsideoftheprinter.
The “Auto Feed” setting, on line 13, is a configurable item. “CR” Carriage Return means no auto linefeed. This is
the most common setting for applications . “CR+LF” means a linefeed will be added to each CR. This se tting can
produce double-spacing of reports.
The “Interface Mode” setting, line 14, lists th e interface protocol for the printer. A typical setting can be DTR with
no, odd, or even parity.
“Baud Rate” on line 16, lists the baud rate for th e printer. Most application software autobauds so you do not have
to select it. Bit rate is commonly set to 19200 (19.2K) or 9600 bps.
“A2D History,” lines 63 through 66, is the his tory for voltage measurements and temperature meas urements, as re-
corded by th e printer.
“Head Jam History” on lines 68 through 71, gives information on head jams. If the printer is having frequent head
jams, these lines can assist in determining the problem.
“Direction” tells which w ay the head was moving, “left” toward home and “right” away from home. Home posi-
tion is at the extreme left, toward the green thumb whee l.
“Step” is the acceleration s tep at the j am. “0” means no steps were taken, “15” means all steps were taken.
“1–14” means printer jammed during acceleration or dece leration.
“Speed” is the acceleration speed of the print head when the jam occurred.
“Temp” is the ambient temperature at the last head jam. The temperature is listed in Celsius.
“Position” of carriage at the jam in 1/720 inches = 12 * s tep position. Divide the number by 12 to get the step
position. There are 512 steps across the page. If it is jamming in the middle, it is more likely a dirty ribbon or
obstructionintheprinthead’spath.
“Head Dot Patte rn,” appearing after “Total Head Jams,” is printed to verify the individual dot wires. There should
be nine dots. If some are missing, it could be a print head failure or a circuit board failure.
“Error Log” information appears in the second-to-last group of lines, This information is cleared after every self-test.
This information is very h elpful in determining problems.
“HJ” # of he ad jams while print he ad is moving
“12Vu” #12-voltundervoltage
“12Vo” # 12-volt over voltage
“Home” # Home detect errors (typically caused by paper scraps or circuit failures)
“EEErr” # EEPROM write failures to diagnostic block
All other values are informational only. Remember that these values are
cleared after the self-test.
