Troubleshooting a Stimare Ticket Printer

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

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

• Setting Up a Stimare 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 printer maintenance, take a look at your printer's manual:
   • Stimare SML User Manual
   • Stimare CLS User Manual
   • Stimare CMP User Manual

WARNING: Always disconnect your ticket printer from mains power before opening or cleaning the printer. Remember to reconnect to mains power once you've finished.

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 there a delay in printing?

• Why do tickets print upside down?

• Why do extra blank tickets print?

• Why do tickets print an incorrect font?

• How do I add new fonts to my printer?

• Why do tickets print out of alignment?

Ticket Printer Installation Troubleshooting

• Why can't I install my printer?

   

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 printer should show a status of Idle. If the printer status is Offline, this indicates the printer is not connected or drivers not installed. Check printer connections and uninstall and reinstall the printer drivers.
    
2. Can you test print from Windows?
   
   If you can’t, this indicates the printer is not connected or drivers not installed. Check printer connections and uninstall and reinstall the printer drivers.
    
3. 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.

• 1. Click the Windows / Start button in your taskbar. Type Printers & scanners and select it from the available options.
  2. Select your printer
  3. Click Printer properties
  4. Click Print Test Page

Why is there a delay in printing?

If you’re experiencing delays in printing, the Poll Period setting may need changing in Spektrix. The Poll Period setting controls how frequently the Box Office App will check for print jobs. If the Poll Period is set too high, it can delay printing.

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

  1. Click on the Control Panel icon in the bottom left corner of Spektrix:

     
     

  2. Click Settings:

     
     

  3. Click Configuration > Box Office App.

     
     

  4. Select your PC from the Name column:

     
     

  5. Change the Poll Period setting by entering a minimum value of 2000:

     
     

  6. Click Save Box Office App for the changes to take effect.
     

Why do tickets print upside down?

If tickets are printing upside down, this can indicate:

• Ticket stock is loaded incorrectly
• Print reversed setting in the Box Office App
• Incorrect Orientation in the Ticket Design Tool

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

     

     
     

  2. Select your printer under Spektrix Printers and click Edit Printer:

     
     

  3. If Print reversed is checked, uncheck it or vice versa:

     
     
  4. Click OK to save changes.
  5. To check that the orientation has been updated, return to an Order and reprint a Ticket.

Next check the correct Orientation is selected within the ticket design.

• 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 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:

• 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 tickets print an incorrect font?

If tickets are printing with an incorrect font, this indicates a mismatch between the Printing Mode in the Ticket Design and the printer setup in the Spektrix Box Office App.

If you're using a Stimare SML, CMP or CLS in Generic Printing Mode, FGL must be unchecked in the Spektrix Box Office App.

• 1. Click the Control Panel icon in the bottom left of Spektrix:

     
     

  2. Click Admin:

     
     

  3. Go to Document Designs > Tickets and click Edit next to your Ticket Design.

  4. In the Edit Document Design window, click Document Properties:

     
     

  5. Change Printing Mode to Generic:

     
     

  6. Click Save:

  Next, check the FGL settings match in the Spektrix Box Office App.

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

     

     
     

  2. Select your printer under Spektrix Printers and click Edit Printer:

     
     

  3. Make sure Print using FGL is unchecked:

     
     
  4. Click OK to save changes.
  5. To check that the font is correct, return to an Order and reprint a Ticket.

If you're using a Stimare CLS in FGL Basic or FGL Extended Mode, FGL must be checked in the Spektrix Box Office App.

FGL is a special printing language mainly used by BOCA printers but which can also be used with Stimare CLS ticket printers. It cannot be used with Stimare CMP or SML printers.

Using either FGL Basic or FGL Extended means you will only be able to use a small number of predetermined fonts. The Extended mode has the most to choose from of the two.

When using FGL with the Stimare CLS Printer, tickets may print more quickly, and you will have more control over when the printer cuts tickets as they are being printed.

• 1. Click the Control Panel icon in the bottom left of Spektrix:

     
     

  2. Click Admin:

     
     

  3. Go to Document Designs > Tickets and click Edit next to your Ticket Design.

  4. In the Edit Document Design window, click Document Properties:

     
     

  5. Change Printing Mode to FGL Basic or FGL Extended:

     
     

  6. Click Save:

  Next, check the FGL settings match in the Spektrix Box Office App.

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

     

     
     

  2. Select your printer under Spektrix Printers and click Edit Printer:

     
     

  3. Make sure Print using FGL is checked:

     
     
  4. Click OK to save changes.
  5. To check that the font is correct, return to an Order and reprint a Ticket.

How do I add new fonts to my Stimare printer?

It's possible to add True Type Fonts (TTF) to your Stimare printer and Spektrix system. The font needs to be installed on each PC the printer connects to. First, contact our Support Team and request that the font is added to your system.

To add the True Type font to your printer, follow these steps:

1. Place your printer into Mass Storage Mode to access its settings.
2. The printer will appear as a flash drive on your computer.

3. Copy the font from your PC and paste into the FONTS folder of the printer's flash drive

   

4. Deactivate Mass Storage to return to printing mode

Why do tickets print out of alignment?

If your tickets drift out of alignment when printing, this indicates either:

• Incorrect form size settings: Follow the steps in Configuring a printer to work with your ticket stock
• Incorrect dimensions in the Ticket Design Tool: Follow the steps in Setting your document properties in the Ticket Design Tool article
• Incorrect notch settings:  Follow the steps in How to set the Notch position and distance on a Stimare printer

When following the steps in the articles above, we recommend measuring your ticket stock and notch distances.

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:

Installation Troubleshooting

Why can't I install my printer?

When installing your printer, you might see an error. The two most common error messages are shown below:

You can follow the same steps to resolve both these errors:

1. Click Cancel to exit the installation
2. Leave the printer switched on and connected to the PC
3. Follow the steps in Manual Printer Install for windows

If you still can't install the drivers after following these steps, contact Stimare Support.

Uninstalling a Stimare Ticket Printer 

If you need to uninstall your printer, follow the steps in the How to Uninstall a Ticket Printer article.

To reinstall your printer read Setting up a Stimare Ticket Printer.

Contacting Stimare Support

If you have completed all troubleshooting steps in this article and need to contact the manufacturer, you can fill in the support form on the Stimare website, or send Stimare an email. A Stimare engineer will respond to you. In most cases the engineers will arrange a remote session to resolve the issue. 

If you need to return your Stimare printer, first create an account on Stimare’s RMA portal. Then, submit a request for an RMA (Return Material Authorisation) =and the Stimare team will guide you through the returns process.

• Manual Install for windows 2024.pdf400 KB