Pcounter Pro Pull Printing
Troubleshooting guide
About this document
This document details how to troubleshoot a number of issues that are sometimes experienced
by when using a Pull-Printing Pcounter Pro application.
Pcounter Pro Pull Printing applications include all Pcounter embedded software and a number
of external hardware terminals. For the purposes of this document all Pull Printing technologies
will be referred to as “Pro apps”.
Symptom
Users can log into the Pro app however can see no print jobs, even though they have sent jobs
to print to the Pull Queue.
Resolution
Using Pcontrol on the Pcounter Pro server, check the status of the jobs in the Pull Queue.
All jobs in a Pull Queue should have a status of Paused.
If the status of the user’s jobs in the Pull Queue reads as Ready rather than Paused there are
a number of possible causes.
1. The Pull Queue may not have the Pcounter Superpause setting activated.
To check this; right-click the queue in Pcontrol and select Pcounter > Configuration from
the popup menu. If not already, set Pause all jobs to Superpause then click OK and confirm
when prompted to restart the Printer Control
Service.
Any jobs already in the queue can be manually
paused by right-clicking and selecting Pause.
It is possible to pause multiple jobs
simultaneously through Ctrl or Shift + rightclick.
2. There may be a single job in the pull queue which is affecting the status of all other jobs.
A job in a pull queue which has a certain status may affect the status of subsequent jobs in the
queue as the queue is busy attempting to process this job, therefore has not yet paused the
later jobs.
The two common statuses that may be seen through Pcontrol are
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Paused/Printing
Error: Printing [error message]
For either of the above, the simplest solution would be to first manually pause all subsequent
jobs that have a status of Ready, and then delete the problem job from the queue.
3. The Pull Queue itself may be paused through Windows
If the Pull Queue itself is paused by Windows, Pcounter will be
unable to place any jobs in the Superpause state as it will not
attempt to process them.
To check if the queue is paused by Windows, select it in Pcontrol
and check the status bar. If the status reads Paused here then
you will need to remove this pause setting through Device &
Printers or Printers and Faxes.
Symptom
Users can log into the Pro app and select a job to print, however no job prints and the job is no
longer in the pull queue.
Resolution
There are a few possible permutations of this scenario
1. The Data light briefly flashes on the MFD after a job is selected to print.
If the data light flashes briefly this means that the job has successfully been transmitted from
the server to the MFD and it is not being printed due to some error with the job.
In a pull printing environment, especially one with a mixed fleet of different models and even
manufacturers of MFDs, this is most likely down to a compatibility issue between the
driver used on the pull queue and the MFD itself.
If this is the case the resolution is to change the driver in use on the pull queue to a more
generic/simple driver. Also ensure that, if you are using a PS driver for your pull queue, the
MFD is PS compatible as this often does not come as a standard.
2. The Data light does not flash on the MFD
If the data light does not flash this implies that the job has not been successfully sent from the
server. If this is the case the job would likely be in the queue for the specific printer with an
Error status.
Send a test page directly to this queue to determine whether it is a problem with the queue
itself. If the same error occurs perform standard network/printing diagnostics on this printer.
If the data light does not flash, and there is no job in the queue for the specific printer it is
likely that the job is being legitimately deleted by Pcounter as it violates a rule which has been
set or the user does not have sufficient credit for the job.
If this is the case see the Pcounter New Installation Troubleshooting guide, Section 4.
Symptom
All users are able to see all other users’ jobs if they browse to the pull queue through Windows
Devices & Printers or Printers & Faxes.
Resolution
This is not an error as such. It is a limitation of Windows that all users can see all jobs waiting
in a print queue if they have permission to print to that queue.
To work around this limitation we suggest using a Hidden Queue setup, which is explained on
page 4 of our Pull Printing How-To Guide
Symptom
Users are unable to log into the Pro app
Resolution
First of all, confirm the obvious that they are not simply entering their credentials incorrectly.
If the problem is affecting all users the first thing to try is a restart of the relevant Pro app
services.
Each Pro app installs a different service. The services used by each application are listed at the
end of this document in the Appendix.
Logon issues for each application can be highly specific and as such are not covered further in
this document. If a restart of the relevant services does not fix the problem consult the
knowledge base or contact AIT Ltd support:
[email protected]
www.ait.co.uk/log-a-case
0113 273 0300
Symptom
Users are being charged twice for all print jobs, but not copy jobs
Resolutions
1. If using a Hidden Queue setup
If users are being charged for print jobs twice and you are using the Hidden Queue
configuration as detailed here, check the configuration of your User Visible Queue in Pcontrol
(right-click > Pcounter > Configuration).
Accounting on here must be set to None.
2. Both Pcounter Server and the Embedded Software are configured to account for printing
Most embedded applications allow Pcounter Server to charge for and record print jobs released
through the embedded, whilst the embedded only accounts for copy jobs.
Sharp and Toshiba embedded can be configured to account for print jobs as well as copy
jobs. If both the embedded and Pcounter are mistakenly configured to account for printing
then each job will be recorded and charged for twice.
A general rule of thumb is:
If your users are selecting client codes at the MFD for print jobs, then the embedded must
perform the accounting.
If your users are not selecting client codes at the MFD for print then Pcounter Server should
perform the accounting.
To disable the various accounting settings see our guides for accounting in Sharp Embedded
and Toshiba Embedded.
Recommended Settings
It is recommended that the option “Enable advanced printing features” is disabled on all
pull queues. This option is located on the queue Properties > Advanced tab.
We also recommend that the Print Processor is set to WinPrint and the Datatype set to
Raw.
Appendix: List of Services used by the various Pcounter Pro Print Release apps
Below is a list of the various Print release applications and the services which they rely on.
All of these services can be found through the Services snap-in in Windows (services.msc)
Embedded Software
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HP Embedded
 Pcounter for HP Gateway
Konica Minolta Embedded
 XPR Enterprise KM Embedded Service
Kyocera Embedded
 Pcounter for Kyocera Gateway
Ricoh Embedded
 Ubiquitech Office Service
Sharp Embedded: either:
 Apache Tomcat (version 3.1.0.5 and earlier)
 Pcounter Embedded Sharp (version 3.2.0.2 and above)
Toshiba Embedded: both:
 Apache Tomcat
 VD Server 2.0
Xerox Embedded:
 Pcounter Xauditron Service
Hardware Terminals & Biometric Authentication
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Monitor PC206 or 526
 MBM Pcounter Gateway
Print 2 Me
 Apache Tomcat
Touchpad Terminal
 XPR Enterprise Touchpad Gateway
XPR Biometrics
 XPR Enterprise Biometric Server
 XPR Enterprise Biometric Receiver
XPR Secure Print
 XPR Secure Print Service