Chapter 8
Troubleshooting
General Considerations
System Test
If your program fails to run successfully, you can run the 802 Test Program to check out the host/network/access point/terminal link.
Radio Test
If you are not Signed In, the best way to test the radio is to perform a Site Survey. If you are already Signed In and operating, you can check the Signal Strength of the Access Points by pressing the Status Key and reading the Signal Strength on the last line displayed. Do this test at about 50 feet or less from the Access point (no walls). If either test reads less than 20%, chances are that you have a Terminal Device's radio that needs repair.
Changing Batteries
For RF Terminals, the most frequent cause of problems is low batteries that have either been ignored or undetected. The real test for batteries is to remove batteries from a working unit and place them in a suspect unit. Don’t assume that just because the batteries are new they are good. We have purchased “new “ batteries off the shelf and tested them immediately to discover they are bad.
Most of the time batteries become the problem as a result of two failures:
1.The operator ignores the Low Batteries message and doesn’t finish up the transaction and immediately change the batteries. If you turn the unit off and turn it on again, the batteries may have had time to “almost” recover. Unfortunately they will have so little reserve power that they will likely operate just long enough to produce some very screwy behavior on the RF Terminal. Intermittent laser beams, continuous beeping, black bars on the screen, etc. are just a few of the disastrous symptoms that can be exhibited.
2.NiMH rechargeable batteries are being used, but the Terminal thinks that Alkalines are still being used. The Terminal ships with Alkaline batteries in the Setup. Alkalines and rechargeable batteries have different voltage profiles, so the Terminal has to know if you have decided to use rechargeables in order to properly notify you that the batteries have reached the low point requiring the batteries to be changed.
If you are using rechargeable batteries, you must change the Batteries parameter in the Terminal Setup to reflect the usage of rechargeable
batteries, otherwise you will strange behavior on the Terminal including:
