System locks up overnight - related to pole display??

Have you considered shutting down the terminal when the shop closes? IME, Windows really likes to be restarted on a pretty regular basis. I know that this doesn't address the root of your issue, but is would probably solve your problem.

If shutting down nightly doesn't work for you, look into your power management settings for both the system in geeneral and the device in particular - the device may be getting disconnected/turned off by windows in an attempt to save power.

Tom

"PRJ" wrote:

Good suggestions. I do notice, however, that the ICVerify software (on the server) does not immediately show each credit card transaction, so I've been leaving the POS terminal up at closing to be sure the last transactions are passed through.

You may be right about the power issue. My server has everything on it the POS terminal has, except for the pole display, Barcode reader and credit card processing peripherals.... the server never freezes.

How would I re-set the pole display power management.? I know how to do that for the CPU, but not a perpheral. FYI - this never happens during the business day, but has happned as little as 3 hours after close of business (came back to the store late one night).

My RMS tech is suggesting I unplug the pole display at night to see if that has an effect, and isolates the cause. How we would fix it, if that's it, I don't know.

I don't have any pole displays so, the following is pretty general...

Look at the properties for your LAN connection. If you click 'Configure' then select the 'Power Management' tab, you'll notice a switch for 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.'

Some printers allow the user to define the sleep settings. I have some that do and others that don't. Basically, look around the 'advanced settings' part of the printer driver and hope to find some setting that allows you to have the printer stay hot all the time or to extend the delay before 'sleep mode' for as long as possible.

If the pole display has some sort of software component, you may be able to find a setting that stops the pole display from shutting itself off after long periods of inactivity. It is also possible that some sort of hardware configuration (like dipswitches) might be available. You might want to contact your hardware vendor about it.

Tom

"PRJ" wrote:

control+alt+delete

workstation/server.

I had a similar problem that was related to my pole display. I was using the logic control PD3000 usb model, however my problem was not related to the power management. Unplugging the unit during the night seems like a terrible idea. If I disconect my OPOS scanner or Pole Display I get the 'write' error. My error did not always occur during the night, but sometimes during the work day. The building's electricity is pretty well maxed out and I noticed two ways the unit would upset: touching where the AC/DC adapter where it was connected to the unit (I guess it was not shielded very well), the other was certain units in the building that were running many devices on the same breaker had this happen much more often. I wrapped the point where the ac/dc connector connects to the unit with electrical tape and used electrical staples to secure this point to the stand so it would not be bumped or jarred. Secondly I made sure the UPS had the pole, computer, and scanner plugged into the 'battery backup'. The monitor, printer, and pin pad did not seem to crash the computer when they lost power so they went into the 'surge only' outlets in the UPS. We have a generator that fires up as soon as commerical power is lost, having these devices lose power for a second doesn't seem to be a problem. Across 19 lanes after making these modifications I have only 2 instances of the 'write' error this year, which I mostly attribute to the cashier to bumping or jarring cables while cleaning/ajusting their workstations.

Hope this Helps Patrick