Troubleshooting a Microcom 485T Ticket Printer

This troubleshooting article is designed to help you resolve the most common problems encountered when installing your printer and printing tickets.

Before you read this article, you should be familiar with:

• Setting up a Microcom Ticket Printer
• Installing the Spektrix Box Office App
• Troubleshooting the Spektrix Box Office App

Initial checks

Before starting to troubleshoot, complete these initial checks:

1. Is the Spektrix Box Office app registered and running?
    
2. Is the printer connected and switched on?
    
3. Is ticket stock inserted the correct way round? Tickets should be inserted with the notch end first and thermal side up (the side you will print on).
    
4. Is the printer regularly cleaned and maintained? For information about cleaning the printer and print heads, take a look at pages Chapter 4: Printer Maintenance on pages 51 to 55 of the Microcom 485T Operators Manual.

Quick links to troubleshooting steps

Find your issue by clicking the link which describes your problem:

Ticket Printing Troubleshooting

• Why can’t I print tickets?
• Why is my printer not printing the correct ticket design?
• Why is the stub at the wrong end of the ticket?
• Why do my tickets print out of alignment?
• Why do extra blank tickets print?
• Why do my tickets print an incorrect font

Ticket Cutting Troubleshooting

• Why do my tickets cut in the wrong place?
• Why doesn’t my printer cut tickets after a firmware update

Installation Troubleshooting

• Why can’t I connect to my printer?
• Why does my diagnostic label look different?

Ticket Printing Troubleshooting

Why can’t I print tickets?

If you can’t print tickets, check the following:

1. Is the printer status online in Windows? 
   
   If not, check all cables and USB ports. A successfully installed Microcom printer should show a status of Waiting. If the printer status is Offline, this indicates the wrong printer driver has been selected. Uninstall the print drivers and reinstall the print driver that matches your printer.
    
2. Can you print using Test print from the printer?
   
   Run a test print directly from the printer. The printer should be set to IMAGE mode. If you can’t print in IMAGE mode, contact Microcom support for further assistance.
    
3. Can you test print from Windows?
   
   If you can’t, this indicates the wrong printer driver has been selected. Uninstall the print drivers and reinstall the print driver that matches your printer.
    
4. Can you test print from the Box Office App? 
   
   If you can’t, check the printer is set up correctly in the Box Office App.

Why is my printer not printing the correct ticket design?

If your tickets are printing an incorrect design, make sure you’ve selected the correct design in the Event Instance. Follow the steps in How to Set Up Instances to check and update the Ticket Design assigned to the Instance.

TIP: If you need to change the Ticket Design across multiple Instances, use the Bulk Instance Updater Tool.

Once updated, go back to the Order in the Sales or Opportunities Interface and reprint the Ticket.

If the correct Ticket Design is set against the Event Instance, update the design using the Ticket Design Tool.

Gift Vouchers, Gift Membership, Cover Slips and Address Labels only have one design. If these items print an incorrect design, you’ll need to update the Document Design.

Take a look at the following articles for further information:

• Merchandise: Create a Merchandise Ticket Design
• Gift Voucher: Read How to Create Gift Voucher Document Designs
• Gift Membership: Read Gift Membership Design
• Cover Slip: Customer Receipts, Cover Slips and Address Labels
• Address Label: Customer Receipts, Cover Slips and Address Labels

If you’re still facing issues with incorrect designs printing, contact our Support Team.

Why is the stub at the wrong end of the ticket?

If the ticket stub is at the wrong end of your ticket, you’ll need to change the orientation of the design.

TIP: To access the Admin Interface, you’ll need the General Administrator Role. If you don’t have this Role, ask the Settings Administrator in your organisation to add this Role to your User Account.

Follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Admin Interface > Document Designs > Tickets.
2. Under Ticket Designs, find the name of your Ticket Design and click Edit.

3. In the Ticket Design Tool, click Document Properties:

   
   

4. In the Document Properties, under Orientation, if set to Landscape change to Reverse Landscape or vice versa:

   
   
5. Click Print to print a Test Ticket.
6. When you are satisfied with your test print, click Save to save the Ticket design.
7. To check that the Ticket design has been updated, return to an Order with the updated Ticket Design and reprint the Ticket.

Why do my tickets print out of alignment?

If your tickets print out of alignment, this could be an issue with your ticket design not matching the size of the ticket stock. If a ticket design is too large, even by a few millimetres, it may print across two tickets.

Measure your ticket stock in millimeters. Then check and correct the size Spektrix.

Ticket measurements differ depending on whether you’re setting the form size in windows or setting the dimensions in the Ticket Design Tool. Take a look at the table below:

To check your ticket size, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Admin Interface > Document Designs > Tickets.
2. Under Tickets Designs, find the name of your Ticket Design and click Edit.

3. In the Ticket Design Tool, click Document Properties:

   

4. In Document Properties, for Width, enter the long edge measurement in millimeters. For Height, enter the short edge measurement in millimeters:

   

5. Click Print to print a Test Ticket
6. When you are satisfied with your test print, click Save to save the Ticket design.
7. To check that the Ticket design has been updated, return to an Order with the updated Ticket Design and reprint the Ticket.

If blank tickets are still printed, you may need to correct the form size in Windows. Follow the steps in Configuring a Printer to work with your ticket stock.

Why do extra blank tickets print?

If extra blank tickets print alongside your other tickets, this could be an issue with your ticket design not matching the size of the ticket stock. If a ticket design is too large, even by a few millimetres, it may print across two tickets.

Measure your ticket stock in millimeters. Then check and correct the size Spektrix.

Ticket measurements differ depending on whether you’re setting the form size in windows or setting the dimensions in the Ticket Design Tool. Take a look at the table below:

To check your ticket size, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Admin Interface > Document Designs > Tickets.
2. Under Tickets Designs, find the name of your Ticket Design and click Edit.

3. In the Ticket Design Tool, click Document Properties:

   

4. In Document Properties, for Width, enter the long edge measurement in millimeters. For Height, enter the short edge measurement in millimeters:

   

5. Click Print to print a Test Ticket
6. When you are satisfied with your test print, click Save to save the Ticket design.
7. To check that the Ticket design has been updated, return to an Order with the updated Ticket Design and reprint the Ticket.

If blank tickets are still printed, you may need to correct the form size in Windows. Follow the steps in Configuring a Printer to work with your ticket stock.

Why do my tickets print an incorrect font?

Microcom ticket printers can only print Generic mode fonts. You’ll need to ensure that the ticket printer and Ticket Design are set to Generic mode, not FGL.

To check FGL settings, you’ll need to check the Box Office App and your Ticket Designs. Follow the steps in both tabs below.

• Box Office App

  To check FGL mode in the Box Office App, follow these steps:

  1. Right click on the Box Office App icon in the system tray and click Open:
     

     
     

  2. In the Printers tab, select your ticket printer under Spektrix printers and click Edit Printer:

     
     

  3. In the Add/Edit Printer screen uncheck Print using FGL:

     
     
  4. Click OK to save your changes.

• Ticket Design

  To check the printing mode in your Ticket Design, follow these steps:

  1. In Spektrix, navigate to the Admin Interface > Document Designs > Tickets.
  2. Click Edit next to your Ticket Design.

  3. In the Ticket Design Tool, click Document Properties:

     
     

  4. In Document Properties > Printing Mode, select Generic:

     
     

  5. If you are switching from either FGL Basic or Extended to Generic, you may need to change your fonts in the Ticket Design Tool due to incompatibility.
     
     Click a text element then select a new font. Usable fonts will appear above your current font from the dropdown:

     
     

     Generic mode fonts may include: Arial, Arial Black, Calibri, Century Gothic, Courier New, Georgia, Gill Sans MT, Helvetica, Nunito, Times New Roman and Verdana.
     
     You can also use custom fonts in Generic mode. These fonts must also be installed on the PC the ticket printer is connected to.

  6. Click Print to print a Test Ticket.
  7. When you are satisfied with your test print, click Save to save the Ticket design.
  8. You can also check that the Ticket design has been updated by returning to an Order with the updated Ticket Design and reprinting the ticket.

Ticket Cutting Troubleshooting

Why do my tickets cut in the wrong place?

If your tickets are cutting in the wrong place, for example, before or after a perforation, this could be an issue with either your form size or the size of the ticket design not matching the size of the ticket stock.

To resolve this, you’ll need to measure your ticket stock in millimeters, then check and correct the size in Windows and Spektrix.

The ticket measurements differ depending on whether you’re setting the form size in windows or setting the dimensions in the Ticket Design Tool. Take a look at the table below:

First, check that the form size is correct in Windows. Follow the steps in Configuring a Printer to work with your ticket stock. Then, go back to Spektrix and print an Order from the Sales or Opportunities Interface. We recommend testing with an Order of two or more Tickets. If the tickets still don’t cut in the correct place, check the size of the ticket in the Ticket Design in Spektrix.

1. Navigate to the Admin Interface > Document Designs > Tickets.
2. Under Tickets Designs, find the name of your Ticket Design and click Edit.

3. In the Ticket Design Tool, click Document Properties: 

   

4. On the Document Properties screen, for Width, enter the long edge measurement in millimeters. For Height, enter the short edge measurement in millimeters:

   

5. Click Print to print a Test Ticket.
6. When you are satisfied with your test print, click Save to save the Ticket design.
7. You can also check that the Ticket design has been updated by returning to an Order with the updated Ticket Design and reprinting the Ticket.

Why doesn’t my printer cut tickets after a firmware update?

Sometimes after updating the firmware, the printer’s cutter may stop cutting tickets. To re-enable the cutter, you’ll need to access the printer’s configuration page and change the cutter setting.

Before you start, you’ll need to print off a diagnostic label to view the IP address and MAC address of your printer. Take a look at the steps in Step 2: Configuring printer settings in the Setting Up a Microcom Ticket Printer article.

Follow these steps:

1. On your printed diagnostic label, make a note of the last four digits of the MAC address, not including the colon (in the example below this is 1a7c):

   
   
2. Access your printer by entering its IP address in your web browser
3. Click Configuration Page from the left menu
4. Enter the last four digits of the MAC address and click Submit

5. Under Language Mode Configuration, change the Language Mode to FGL:

   
   
6. Click Submit > Restart Printer

7. Under Document Configuration, change Cutter Enablement to Enable

   
   
8. Click Submit > Restart Printer

Installation Troubleshooting

Why can’t I connect to my printer?

If you can’t connect to your printer, there may be an issue with the print driver not communicating with the printer.

First, check to see if your printer is displayed in Windows Device Manager.

1. Right click on the Windows / Start button in your taskbar and select Device Manager.
2. Scroll down to Print Queues and look for your printer

3. If your printer isn’t displayed, check Ports (COM & LPT):

   

If your Ticket Printer is displayed under Ports (COM & LPT), this means that the print driver is not properly communicating with your Ticket Printer. Make a note of the COM number as you’ll need this in the next steps.

Next, check the COM Port number assigned to the printer. Follow these steps:

1. Click the Windows / Start button in your taskbar. Type Printers & scanners and select it from the available options.
2. In Printers & Scanners select your printer.

3. Click Printer Properties:

   

4. In the Microcom Properties screen, select the Ports tab. Here you’ll see the COM Port number assigned to the Printer. Compare this to the COM Port in Device Manager:

   

If the COM port differs, you’ll need to change it in Device Manager to match. Follow these steps:

1. Right click on the Windows / Start button in your taskbar and select Device Manager.
2. Scroll down to Ports (COM & LPT), right click your printer and select Properties.

3. In COM Properties, select the Port Settings tab > Advanced:

   

4. Select the COM Port Number from the dropdown and click OK:

Why does my diagnostic label look different?

A diagnostic label contains the information you’ll need to set up your printer. A printed diagnostic label should look like this:

You might see a diagnostic label printed like this:

If the printed diagnostics label looks like this, then your printer is set to FGL mode and needs to be changed to IMAGE mode. Follow the steps in Step 2: Configuring printer settings.

Further Support

If you experience any issues installing the printer, changing cutting settings or test printing, contact Microcom support.