Beau,
You should really invest in MS' Maintenance Plan as you are missing all of the articles in the Knowledge Base, in addition to all updates.
Here's the pertinent part of the KB article;
CAUSE This problem occurs because the magnetic stripe reader is configured incorrectly. RESOLUTION If the magnetic stripe reader sends the data from the magnetic stripe through the keyboard port or through a keyboard wedge, follow these steps:
- Start Notepad, click Format, and then make sure that Word Wrap is turned off. 2. Swipe a credit card through the magnetic stripe reader. In Notepad, the data from the credit card should appear in the following format: %B1111111111111111^DOE/JOHN^YYMM111111111111 22222222222? ;0000000000000000111111111122222222222? 3. If the data does not appear in this format, contact the manufacturer of your magnetic stripe reader for information about how to program the magnetic stripe reader to format the data this way.
Note The data may contain a carriage return or other incorrect special characters. In the data, the same special characters that appear in step 2 should appear. The percent sign (%) and the semicolon (;) are the most important characters.
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