Module: Printer Troubleshooting

Time

1 hour

Materials

Instructor Notes CRT Printer Whiteboard or chalkboard Marker or chalk

Objectives

By the end of the module, participants will be able to make the correct entry to: Release the printer. Display the printer status. Place a printer on hold. Send a test message. Remove a message.

Instructor

This module may be presented to Reservations, Airports, CRC, Flight Dispatch, Supervisors, Managers, and Communications. For additional information, refer to FOCUS.

Reference

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

Overview

Printer Troubleshooting

Explain

This module is divided into two sections: Printer Entries Troubleshooting or Diagnostics

Printer Entries It is imperative that the agent/supervisor meet the objectives of the first section of this module before continuing on to the second section. Troubleshooting/Diagnostics The section on Troubleshooting will take the entries presented in the first section and, combined with some troubleshooting recommendations, apply them. It is recommended that all printers be labeled with the Sabre LNIATA for troubleshooting purposes.

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Printer Entries
Introduce

Release/Restart a Printer

Demonstrate

RL/FC2638 RL / FC2638

<Enter> Primary action code Separator Printer LNIATA

Explain

The purpose of this entry is to restart or release a designated hardcopy printer by use of the LNIATA. The system response may be one of the following:
NO MSGS NO MSGS

ON

MSW

QUEUE

There are no messages on queue to print. The second line will only be on a LNIATA that is set up for message switching/teletype messages.
RESTARTED 00003 MSGS ON QUEUE

Printer has been restarted. There are 3 messages waiting to print.

DEVICE ACTIVE

The printer is active and in the process of printing.

Point Out

The ability exist to release a printer that is on multi systems without having to go into each system separately. This is done by prefixing the entry with a cross of Lorraine character (#). See below: #RL/FC2634

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

This can only be used when the printer status is shown as STOPPED, and the CRT must be on the same LNIA as the printer.

Apply

Practice as needed.

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Introduce

Check Printer Status

Demonstrate

RL/FC2638STATUS RL / FC2638 STATUS

<Enter> Primary action code Separator Printer LNIATA Indicator for Status

Explain

The purpose of this entry is to check the current status of the hardcopy printer.

Point Out

The system response will be similar to one of the following: No messages on queue
PSS - PRODEV NO LMT MSGS DEVICE STATUS HISTORY DATA CONTL CODE ACK ACK 040 009 0 NORMAL 000 001 4 DEVICE ERROR ----------------------------------------------------RETRY COUNT 2 RETRY INTERVAL 60 ----------------------------------------------------NO MSGS ON MSW QUEUE

Last line will show (END OF DISPLAY) if not set up as a MSW printer. If the print queue is empty with no messages on queue waiting to print, the top line will show:
PSS - PRO NO LMT MSGS

Printer ON HOLD (HELD) with NO messages on queue

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

PSS - PRODEV NO LMT MSGS HELD DEVICE STATUS HISTORY DATA CONTL CODE ACK ACK 080 017 0 NORMAL 000 001 4 DEVICE ERROR ----------------------------------------------------RETRY COUNT 2 RETRY INTERVAL 60 ----------------------------------------------------NO MSGS ON MSW QUEUE

Printer on HOLD or STOPPED

PSS - PRODEV HELD 00001 LMT MSGS ON QUEUE POSITION FORM AND ENTER RL/FC2638 WILL RESTART WITH --------------------------------------------------HDQKQ1S .HDQTQ1S 151651/H2JC09E2A ATTN MGRS THIS IS A TE --------------------------------------------------DEVICE STATUS HISTORY DATA CONTL CODE ACK ACK 193 060 0 NORMAL 001 000 1 TSN ERROR 001 000 4 DEVICE ERROR --------------------------------------RETRY COUNT 2 RETRY INTERVAL 60 --------------------------------------0011 MSGS ON MSW QUEUE

The device has been stopped. There is one message still on queue to print. The agent should do RL/LNIATA and the printer will restart with the first 64 characters shown of the next message. Position form means to make sure the printer paper is in order. Printer Error
DEVICE ERROR

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Printer is probably off-line. The agent would place the printer back online.

Point Out

Printer will display any of the above responses for various reasons: HOLD entry was made. Printer is off-line or has been turned off. Printer paper is jammed. Printer cover is up causing the printer to be off-line. Printer has become unplugged. Master CRT is down.

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

Introduce

Response on HDQ Sets

Demonstrate

RL/FC2638STATUS

<Enter>

Explain

The purpose of this entry is to check the current status of the hardcopy printer. If performed from an HDQ set, the Sabre Device Status History of the printer will be displayed. It indicates how many "buffers" have been received, how many RL entries have been made and the reason or code indicating the status of the printer. The Sabre response on a HDQ set will be similar to the one shown below:
PSS - PRODEV NO LMT MSGS DEVICE STATUS HISTORY DATA CONTL CODE ACK ACK 563 036 0 NORMAL 024 000 1 TSN ERROR 000 003 4 DEVICE ERROR 000 001 7 UNPROTECTED --------------------------RETRY COUNT 2 RETRY INTERVAL 60 --------------------------END OF DISPLAY

Point Out

PSS PRODEV NO LMT MSGS DATA ACK

Sabre Protected Device. When a printer is released, the first message is protected and is not lost. No Long Message Transmission This column indicates the number of buffers received since the AAA was last cleared. In the above display, 563 buffers have been received.

Messages are sent to printers in buffers. A buffer is a group of up to 96 characters.

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

The systems counts buffers, not total messages. This total is reflected in the DEVICE STATUS HISTORY response to an RL/LNIATASTATUS entry. All of the numbers can increase to 999, at which time they recycle back to 001, 002, etc. If this does not happen, it is reflected in the DEVICE STATUS HISTORY in response to the RL/LNIATASTATUS entry. A printer attempts to print a message two times and if not successful, the printer is STOPPED. The last buffer sent is an EOMC (End of Message Complete) and should release the printer from that print session. DEVICE ERROR appears if the printer is off-line, powered off or due to any hardware failure. CONTL ACK The CONTROL ACKS build when messages are sent to a printer or when RL entries have been done on the printer. A total 36 CONTL ACKs have accumulated according to the following display. This reflects an internal status code for the device status history. For example 0, indicates a normal status. No problems exist.

CODE

Examine the first line of the display. DATA ACK 563 CONTL ACK 036 0 NORMAL CODE

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

The display may be interpreted as follows: 563 buffers have been sent to and acknowledged by the printer from the controller since the AAA was last cleared or recycled from 999. 36 RL entries have been made to the printer. If the RL sees no messages, there is no counter action. The status is normal, no problems exist (as indicated by CODE 0). 024 001 1 TSN ERROR 24 of 563 buffers of information were received as a transmission sequence error as indicated by Code 1, which states the last data has been received with a transmission sequence number that did not match the expected one. The system sends messages in buffers which should come across to the printer in sequence, whereby buffer 1, 2 and 3 should be in numerical order. These are internally indicated by a letter for each buffer. If a message is incomplete, the last buffer is EOMI (End of Message Incomplete). The host will try to get back into sync by asking the printer the number, actually the letter, of the last buffer it printed. The host then requeues to the proper buffer and tries to restart. If this fails, it may cause the same message to print over and over. This happens because the printer has the out-of-sequence buffer and cannot recycle . Therefore the printer never receives the EOMC buffer. In effect the printer thinks it is printing a long message. DEVICE ERROR The printer is probably off-line. The agent would place the printer back on line. 000 003 4 DEVICE ERROR The set of zeros is added when there is no data for that column. The system automatically defaults to 000 for programming reasons. There have been 003 instances of device errors on the printer as indicated by code 4. Code 4 is displayed when a device is in a state that precludes the acceptance of data, originating at the device. Communication is broken off between the transmitter and the device. In other words, the printer is off-line for some reason.

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Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

000 001 7 UNPROTECTED There was one occurrence of an unprotected buffer being received on this printer. Code 7 indicates the processor was reset/IPLd as the device received a protected message. Device Status Codes 00 1 2 3 4 Normal status. No problems exist. Last data has been received with a transmission sequence number that did not match the expected one. Transmission errors between transmitter and receiver link...from Host to User. Transmitter unable to communicate with a device. Device is in a state that precludes acceptance of data, originating at the device. Communication is broken off between transmitter and device. Temporary physical or logical condition that prevents data acceptance at this time - should clear at any moment. RL/LNIATAHOLD will cause this condition. Indicates that it was necessary to resend data two or more times before a successful transfer to the device occurred. The processor was reset/IPLd as device received a protected message. The controlling CRT could have been turned off or the printer could have received a keyboard IPL. A protected message was received for which a TA/device code does not exist.

6 7

Apply

Practice as needed.

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

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Introduce

Place Printer on Hold

Demonstrate

RL/FC2638HOLD RL / LNIATA HOLD

<Enter> Primary action code Separator Printer LNIATA Indicator for Hold

Explain

The function of this entry is to place a printer on hold for diagnostic purpose such as changing or aligning paper. The printer will not print until released. The system response will be similar to one of the following:
NO MSGS NO MSGS ON MSW QUEUE

#DEVICE STOPPED

The printer is already on hold or off.

Emphasize

It is critical that the agent/supervisor release the printer after it has been placed on hold as the printer will not print until released. To release the printer from hold, simply perform the RL release entry.

Apply

Practice as needed.

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Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Introduce

Generate Test Message

Demonstrate

RL/FC2638T1 RL / LNIATA T1

<Enter> Primary action code Separator Printer LNIATA Indicator for Test Message

Explain

The function of this entry is to generate a test message to the printer. The line test message includes a one-line printout of all letters, numbers and characters on the keyboard.
PSS-PROT TEST MSG #*,./0123456789@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ-#*,./01234 56789@AB END

Point Out

If the T1 message prints, this indicates that there is no printer hardware problem.

Note

Additional options of the test message may be generated to the printer using a version of the T1 message. For example: RL/FC263AT2 The response will be the T1 message plus a line printed diagonally across the page of the same characters. This message checks the spaces as well as the characters.

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

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A complete diagnostic may be generated to the printer in the TT message. For example: RL/FC263ATT The response will be 18 lines of all of the alpha characters.

Apply

Practice as needed.

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Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Introduce

Remove Message from Printer The instructor may want to generate some messages to the printer while in hold position in order to demonstrate the next entry. The printer should be placed on HOLD before performing this entry.

Demonstrate

RL/FC263A8REMOVE RL / LNIATA REMOVE

<Enter> Primary action code Separator Printer LNIATA Indicator for Remove

Explain

The purpose of this entry is to remove the next message due to be printed on the print queue. This entry may be used if the first message is hung up and preventing the printer from printing. The Sabre response will be similar to one of the following:
MSG REMOVED - 00001 MSGS REMAIN ON QUEUE

Message has been released, one message remains.

NO MSGS

Once the message has been removed, release the printer.

Apply

Practice as needed.

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

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Diagnostics
Introduce

Printer Diagnostics Generally when a printer will not print or has ceased to print, one of the first steps would be to perform some troubleshooting on the hardware itself: Is there paper in the printer? Is the paper loaded correctly? Is the paper jammed? Is the printer turned on? Check all plugs and ports and ensure they are secure. Is the master (controlling) CRT still working?

If possible try doing a screen print from the CRT that the printer is connected to, in order to verify the printer is functional. If all of the above has been verified and appears to be operating correctly, it may be necessary to take some of the following diagnostic recommendations and steps to get the printer restarted. These are only recommendations.

Scenario 1

It has been determined that the hardware is operating correctly and there are no problems with the paper. The next step would be to check the printer STATUS. RL/FC263ASTATUS

Diagnostic 1

The printer STATUS will be displayed on the CRT. Determine the STATUS and follow the directions as indicated in the STATUS display.
PSS - PRODEV NO LMT MSGS

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Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

The print queue is empty with no messages waiting for print. NO LMT MESSAGES will be the response on the CRT screen.
PSS - PRODEV ACTIVE/00001 LMT MSGS ON QUEUE POSITION FORM AND ENTER RL/FC263A WILL RESTART WITH ----------------QK HDQRCZZ .HDQTQ1S 241451/DS0B1C0C ATTN SUPVR THE FOLLOWING ----------------DEVICE STATUS HISTORY

The device is active. There is one message on queue waiting to print. The system instructs the agent to do a release entry (RL/FC263A). The message should then print.
PSS - PRODEV HELD/0001 LMT MSGS ON QUEUE POSITION FORM AND ENTER RL/FC263A WILL RESTART WITH ---------------------QK HDQRCZZ .HDQTQ1S 241451/DS0B1C0C ATTN SUPVR THE FOLLOWING ---------------------DEVICE STATUS HISTORY DATA CONT CODE ACK ACK 243 089 0 NORMAL 001 000 1 TSN ERROR 001 000 4 DEVICE ERROR 000 001 5 TEMP HOLD 000 002 7 UNPROTECTED RETRY COUNT 2 RETRY INTERVAL 60 003 MSGS ON MSW QUEUE

The device has been stopped or in this case placed on hold. Only one message count will show on the top line if the printer is TTY type. The first 64 characters of the next message to print appears. The agent would then do RL/LNIATA and the printer should then print all messages on queue.

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

Module: Printer Troubleshooting

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DEVICE ERROR The printer is probably off-line. The agent would place the printer back on-line.

Scenario 2

Status message indicates that there are no messages on queue but printer still will not print in RES.

Diagnostic 1

In many cases, if the printer is placed on HOLD and then RELEASED, the printer will start up again. RL/FC263AHOLD Once the printer has been placed on HOLD, a system response will be displayed which will indicate that there are messages on queue or the device is stopped. Do release entry: RL/FC263A

Diagnostic 2

If both of the previous attempts fail, try sending a test message to the printer. RL/FC263AT1 A test message prints on the printer, which indicates there is no printer hardware problem.

Scenario 3

There is a possibility also, that an incoming message may have jammed the printer due to a peculiar character. In this case the agent/supervisor may want to display the message to check for characters such as * or #.

Diagnostic 1

Check the printer STATUS. RL/FC263ASTATUS

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Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000

If one of the following two responses appear, check the message for peculiar characters.
PSS - PRODEV ACTIVE/00001 LMT MSGS ON QUEUE DEVICE STATUS HISTORY

The device is active. There is one message on queue waiting to print.

PSS - PRODEV STOPPED/00002 LMT MSGS ON QUEUE POSITION FORM AND ENTER RL/FC263A WILL RESTART WITH ----------------QK HDQRCZZ .HDQTQ1S 241451/DS0B1C0C ATTN SUPVR THE FOLLOWING ----------------DEVICE STATUS HISTORY

The device has been stopped, make sure the printer is plugged in, and turned on. There are two messages still on queue to print. The first 64 characters of the next message to print appears. The agent would then do RL/LNIATA.

Diagnostic 2

If it has been determined that a peculiar character exists in the message as it is displayed on the CRT, remove the one message from the print queue, after putting the printer on hold. RL/FC263AREMOVE

Diagnostic 3

Restart the printer. RL/FC263A <Enter>

Scenario 4

If all of the above diagnostics have been performed and the printer is still not operational.

Diagnostic 1

RL/FC263AHOLD

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

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Module: Printer Troubleshooting

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Power OFF printer. Power OFF (Reboot) the master CRT, then Power ON. Turn printer back on and RELEASE printer. RL/FC263A

Scenario 5

A normal last step would be the following: Power off the printer Power off the controlling (master) CRT that the printer is connected to Wait 10-15 seconds Power up the CRT Power up the printer

Redo the Printer restart entry, RL/LNIATA

Summary

The troubleshooting steps listed here are recommendations. They are not intended to resolve every printer problem. If performed correctly and the printer still does not work, contact your communications department for assistance.

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August 2000

Quick Reference of Entries RL/LNIATA RL/LNIATASTATUS RL/LNIATAHOLD RL/LNIATAREMOVE RL/LNIATAT1 RL/LNIATAT2 RL/LNIATATT Release Printer Check Status of Printer Place Printer on Hold Remove First Message on Queue Send Test Message Send Test Message Send Test Message

Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

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Sabre Airline Reservations Training Guide

August 2000