Troubleshoot a Receipt Printer
Follow these troubleshooting steps if your terminal or bar receipt printer is not printing.
- Determine whether the printer is powered by checking if any of its indicator lights are lit.
- If yes: Go to Step 2.
- If no: Attempt any or all of the following until printer indicators light up:
- Ensure the printer's charging cable is securely plugged into an outlet.
- Verify that the outlet and/or the surge protector have power.
> Note: If the outlet does not have power, check the circuit breaker or continue troubleshooting by plugging the printer into a powered outlet.
- Plug the printer into a known working outlet.
- Replace the printer's charging cable with a known working cable.
⇒ Result: If new charging cables are needed, refer to Order Replacement Hardware or order parts directly at parts.getunion.com.
- Determine whether the printer is actively connected to the network by counting the cables plugged into the back of the printer.
- If the printer has a wireless dongle connection: Stop troubleshooting and contact Support.
- If there is one cable: A cable is missing; at least one ethernet cable and one power cable should be plugged in to the back of the device. Check your surroundings for a missing cable.
- If there are two or three cables: Verify that the ethernet cable is connected firmly to this port.
- If there are three cables: Verify that the cash drawer cable is connected firmly to this port.
- If connections are correct, press the paper feed button to confirm that the printer has paper.
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- If no paper feeds through:
- Attempt to load new paper.
- Ensure that the printer has nothing jamming the paper feed, such as small pieces of paper, dirty, large pieces of lint, etc.
> Note: If there is paper supplied and no jam exists but the printer will not feed paper, stop troubleshooting and contact Support.
- If paper feeds through, continue to Step 4.
- Turn off the printer, wait until all indicator lights shut off, then turn the printer back on.
⇒ Note: Within five minutes of repowering, a small slip of paper with the device's IP address should print.
- If an IP address (10.30.30.XX) is printed: Continue to Step 5.
- If paper feeds through but no IP address is printed:
- Test printing at another location by temporarily connecting this printer to a functional printer's ethernet cable and power supply.
⇒ Note: Within five minutes of repowering, a small slip of paper with the device's IP address should print.
- If no IP prints within five minutes: the printer is broken and will need to be replaced. Refer to Order Replacement Hardware or order parts directly at parts.getunion.com.
- If an IP address (10.30.30.XX) is printed: Stop troubleshooting. Your printer is functional, but its previous location has a bad ethernet connection. Consider replacing the ethernet cable with a new Cat5 cable or reaching out to your local wiring company.
- If an IP address (192.168.192.168) is printed: Stop troubleshooting and contact Support.
- If an IP address (192.168.192.168) is printed: Check for bad WiFi connections at the POS terminal that prints to this printer.
- On the POS terminal, close the Union POS application.
- Open the iPad Settings.
- On the left side of the Settings, select "WiFi".
- On the top right of the WiFi screen, select "Edit" to review networks.
- Determine if any non-Union WiFi networks are listed:
- If non-Union WiFi networks are present: Select the red minus icon and choose "Delete". Repeat for all non-Union WiFi networks.
- If no other networks are present: Select "Done" or "Cancel".
- Continue to Step 5.
- Make sure the printer is communicating with the POS by utilizing the Printer Discovery function in iPad Settings.
- If necessary, close the Union POS application and open the iPad Settings on the POS terminal.
- On the left side, scroll down and select "Union".
- Toggle "Enable Printer Discovery" on.
- Close the Settings and reopen the Union POS application.
⇒ Note: A new "Printer Discovery" window will popup on launch.
- Confirm that the printer is listed as "Reachable".
- If it is Reachable:
- Select "Dismiss" at the bottom of the popup.
- Clock back in.
- Run a test print.
> Note: If unsuccessful, stop troubleshooting and contact Support.
- If it is not Reachable: Stop troubleshooting and contact Support.