Communicating to printer via IBM 3090 Coax connection

Topic or Information

This solution is useful for:

• Coax communication issues
• Coax settings information

Symptoms resolved by this solution include:

• Data light does not flash when print job is sent
• Data light flashes but no print
• Prints garbage, skips print and random misprints

Applies To

Xi3+, Pax 4, 105SL Printers 

Details

To ensure the printer is properly communicating to the host equipment the correct Coax Interface switch parameters must be set. Read More>>

If the Coax settings appear correct make sure you are sending the printer command language. The printer will only respond to ZPL label formats. Use the Hex Dump (Communcations Diagnostics) to print the data the printer is receiving. Read More>>

While checking the ZPL data make sure the ZPL commands have a prefix that matches the printer Command and Format Prefix setting. This can be viewed on a printer configuration label. Read More>>

If using something other than the caret "^" make sure the printer is configured to the same one being used. For more detail on altering the the command character in an IBM environment Read More>>