Account Tracking code disappears

[Heleric]

This is an install I came in the middle of. Here what they have.

A Bizhub C550 with an IC 409. Both controllers connected with "auto obtain IP for copier" disabled. Both controllers have static IP's. Latest driver installed locally on a few workstations for the Empron and fiery driver pulled from the fiery.

Account tracking enabled on copier. In the printers and faxes folder we right click the printer and click Properties then Advanced then Printing Defaults. Enter the account track code. Also after applying and exiting we go right back in again and check it under Printing Preferences. For no apparent reason it disappears from the driver. Sometimes after a day, sometimes after a week. The frustration with the customer is that some people are far away and when the code is missing it still says the job was printed. Walk to the copier and the job log says "No Group Authentication.

After 6 months I am being brought in to do a fresh install with a brand new copier and fiery.

Does anyone have a suggestion for an install procedure that would assure a consistant reliable install and hopefully resolve the mysterious account track disappearing issue?

Thanks in advance for any help especially if someone has seen the code issue before.

[tcs04]

Silly question? but have you pinged the IP with the patch cable unplugged from the copier? There could be a little used printer, not always switched on, taking some jobs from the machine.

[Heleric]

Thanks for the reply. Yes we verified that.

I want to add that the fiery driver was installed on a 64bit 2008 server and shared out to the XP workstations. (Not the way I would have do it.) I did install a local port on a couple of PC's and they claim the code disappeared from that driver too but I was not able to verify this.

[KenB]

Do you have "Two-Way Communication" and "Update Fiery Driver When Opened" checked and configured on the configuration tab of the driver properties?

I think these need to be enabled for any "job control" data to pass properly.

Check out the attached screenshot. (Sorry it's a bit cut off.)

2way.jpg

[TheOwl]

If you have the driver installed on a server, then you would use the 'Printing Defaults' to push certain settings out to all of the clients. If you only have the driver installed on the clients, then you need to use 'Printing Preferences' under the General tab.

[Heleric]

If you have the driver installed on a server, then you would use the 'Printing Defaults' to push certain settings out to all of the clients. If you only have the driver installed on the clients, then you need to use 'Printing Preferences' under the General tab.

Thank you everyone, the config tab is checked off for "update fiery automatically", and we tried it with it unchecked also.

I am going to remove all drivers from the server and workstations. Connect this brand new copier and fiery and install the drivers downloaded from the fiery to each individual workstation. Confirm the machine firmware is up to date. Apply all updates to the fiery. Create LPR ports instead of Standard TCP/IP with the port name "print". I am also going to assign different IP's just to eliminate the possibility of someone printing using the original driver. And that should do it. If the account tracking codes disappear after doing all this I have no idea what else to try. I'll post again when I know more.

[KenB]

You may want to delete the driver from each workstation using the Fiery driver uninstaller utility.

It will get the files and registry entries that a "click and delete" would otherwise miss.

[Heleric]

Point well taken, I have used it in the past and will definitely use it here. Thank you for the reminder.

[Stirton.M]

Thank you everyone, the config tab is checked off for "update fiery automatically", and we tried it with it unchecked also.

I am going to remove all drivers from the server and workstations. Connect this brand new copier and fiery and install the drivers downloaded from the fiery to each individual workstation. Confirm the machine firmware is up to date. Apply all updates to the fiery. Create LPR ports instead of Standard TCP/IP with the port name "print". I am also going to assign different IP's just to eliminate the possibility of someone printing using the original driver. And that should do it. If the account tracking codes disappear after doing all this I have no idea what else to try. I'll post again when I know more.

Don't use LPR...it is an older protocol that is mostly useless, unless you want to have custom print and hold queues to employ command workstation.

I do not care for server side sharing...in many cases, if properly set up, it works well, but there are times when the server chokes and goes down, and users are unable to print, calling in for service from us for those issues that are not ours to fix. If not configured properly, it can lead to problems similar to this and then some. Unless you have a lot of PCs to connect, it is infinitely better to simply install the driver locally.

As was previously mentioned, ensure the driver is set to automatically poll the machine. Without it, the driver may not know what the machine currently has for options. This is especially true for situations where the need to use colour profiles within the fiery environment are important, along with the possibility that the paper configuration of the drawers may sometimes change to suit the needs of the users. Copy track and account codes specifically.

Another method of removing old drivers is to remove the driver from server properties when inside the printers folder. Its part of the pulldown menu....PCL drivers tend to remain resident and will not remove themselves unless a reboot has been performed, or you stop and restart the printer spooler.

To manually stop and start the printer spooler, dos prompt...

net stop spooler
net start spooler

Set your driver defaults as you see fit, including account codes.

Then do a complete computer reboot.

I do this now simply because if windows crashes at some point right after you do a driver adjustment, or adjustments to anything else within windows for that matter, windows will "forget" what you set and revert to defaults. I do not trust windows.

Also, keep in mind that if you are using "method A" of the setup, that is, a separate cat5 cable to the copier and another to the fiery, no crossover between the two, you can use the drivers for the copier itself. This is especially useful for situations where colour accuracy or print queue operations are not required, which is the point of the fiery controller.

And just as a note, in power saving mode of the administrator settings, turn off sleep. This "might" be causing the loss of communications (driver settings) issue that you were encountering.

[Heleric]

Thank you for the tips, especially the ones about power save and rebooting. I am meeting the tech that originally did this install Friday and these tips will really help. Thanks again.