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barcode_troubleshooting

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Barcode Troubleshooting Steps

Testing The Scanner

1. Test scanner it in a command prompt to verify that the Ctrl+B and Carriage return is being scanned.

For Windows 8 and 10 you will also need to make a change for command prompt to function correctly.
Search for CMD.
Right Click on CMD and select run as administrator.
Right click on the menu bar.
click on properties.
On the options tab check the box next to Use legacy console (requires relaunch).
Click OK.
Exit command prompt and restart it.
Now you can check for the Ctrl+B and Carriage Return.

2. Note what barcode numbers are being scanned to verify that no numbers are being omitted. You could also do this step in note pad.

3. If this is a terminal services session, exit the session, and open notepad on the local computer. Scan the barcodes again to determine if they are complete here. If they are… You have an issue with the terminal services session. Refer to the following Wikki Article: http://wiki.wws5.com/doku.php?id=faq:using_barcode_scanners_with_windows_terminal_services

Missing Numbers Scenario 1

This is an issue where the barcode scanner would read the barcode and drop the first character consistently 2 out of 3 times. Every third time worked perfectly. We confirmed this in notepad within the terminal services session. However when we tried it in notepad outside of terminal services, the barcode scanned correctly every time.

Solution: Once we followed the wiki on Using Barcode Scanners With Windows Terminal Services.

http://wiki.wws5.com/doku.php?id=faq:using_barcode_scanners_with_windows_terminal_services

The barcodes now scanned consistently every time.

Missing Numbers Scenario 2

Another client had an issue where some barcodes worked and others scanned as completely different numbers than the barcode number displayed in the human readable text below the barcode. We discovered that the Barcode labels were set to print UPC barcodes, and some of their barcode numbers were less than 12 characters in length. This is a problem for UPC barcodes. UPC Barcodes MUST BE 12 or 13 characters. Smaller numbers are looked at as UPC-E which is a compressed version of UPC code for use on small products. So when the barcode scanner reads a smaller UPC code, thinks it has to converts it using a predefined formula to a standard UPC Barcode, which will not be the same as the one you printed.

Solution: If you are planning on using smaller barcode numbers you should be using Code 128 or 3of9 barcodes Both of these barcode formats support the use of numbers, letters and special characters. The main difference is that 3of9 barcodes support barcodes numbers from 1 to about 25 characters in length. Code 128 barcodes support barcode numbers between 1 to 128 characters in length.


Created by Steve Wind February 14 2017

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barcode_troubleshooting.1487706391.txt.gz · Last modified: 2017/02/21 11:46 (7 years ago) by swind