​This past weekend, nearly all of the parks that we service had the joy of moving an hour ahead on the clock. Many of you probably realized this as you went to your registers and they all had the wrong time on them. Having a accurate time on the registers is extremely important because of the effect time has on many of the reports. Most of the registers out there will have automatically update with their first communication with Comm2000. For those of you who still have the wrong time on your machines, here is how to update that.

1. At the register, go into program mode by pressing the small rectangle in the bottom left hand corner of the screen and selecting "PGM" if you have touchscreens. If you are working on a keyboard, turn the key to "PGM".
2. Next, type in "251 . Enter"
3. At this point you will be able to type in the correct time.
4. After typing it in, press " . " again to save the change and then return to Register mode. 
5. If the time is still incorrect, remember that we are always a phone call away and would love to help you.

Daylight savings can be a pain in many aspects of our lives, but fortunately updating the time on your registers does not need to be too much of a hassle.

For those of you using our registers, you know that at the beginning of the day you need to open a new batch. This is basically telling the register and credit card modem to create a new group of transactions. This helps in the remit process because if there are errors in the batch, it is very easy to track down when they happened. Sometimes though, we go to open or close a batch and we get an error message. This can be very frustrating when you know your register is about to endure an onslaught of anxious visitors or you just really want to get home after a long work day.

The majority of the time these issues arise because the register is having a hard time communicating with the credit card modem. It is sending a message down to the modem saying it is time to open or close a batch, but if the modem can't see the register, it won't be able to send confirmation back. Here are a couple of tips that will fix these errors 95% of the time.
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1.  If your batch will not open, it may be because the cashier the night before never closed their batch. You will need to log on to the register with their credentials to close the batch first and then switch back to your credentials to open the new one.
2. Give the modem and register a kick by power cycling the modem and then service resetting the register. If you have Merlin registers, you will have to shut down the register first.

Most of the time when this issue occurs, one of these two things will fix it. Sometimes however, there is a greater issue that concerns IP Addresses and other deeper programming. If one of these things doesn't work, please give us a call and we will walk you through a few more troubleshooting procedures. We will probably end up asking you to repeat the processes in this post just to be sure it was done correctly. 

Having spent so many years playing with cash registers and peripheral equipment, we've picked up a few small habits that keep the systems working better for longer. These are things that we normally wouldn't think to tell someone because they have become so second nature to us. I want to share a few of those with you so that you can try them out and take care of your equipment.
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1. Most of the parks that we work with use Datacap brand credit card modems. These little black boxes take care of all of your credit card transactions. They will sometimes go down due to network bumps or power outages and you may need to do a power cycle on them. Part of that sequence is unplugging the power from the back of the modem. Be very careful taking the power connector out! These ports are not super strong so don't rip at them. Gently pull it out and you won't ever have to have us repair the port for you.
2. Speaking of credit cards, many of our systems use a magnetic card swipe to read the payment information. On the EliXR Duo model, there is a trick to making the reader work every time. To make sure that it is sliding uniformly through the entire swipe, hold the credit card with your thumb and middle finger and place your index finger at the top edge of the card to keep it steady. Push a little with your index finger and slide it through. This should read the card 99% of the time.
3. Sometimes the thermal receipt printer will not want to print correctly. Doing a system reset on it will fix it most of the time. Turn off the printer with the switch on it, hold down the feed button and then turn it back on. A receipt will print. Let go of the feed button and then press it again and a longer receipt will print. This should kick the printer back to the way it should be.
4. If you have a touchscreen, it is possible that the calibration will become a little skewed. If you start noticing that buttons aren't pressing when you want them to or you need to press extra hard for it to register, this may be your problem. To fix it, go to service mode, type in 999 decimal enter, then follow the instructions to touch each of the "plus signs" when they appear. This will re-calibrate your screen and bring it back to normal. 

Once you start working with these registers every day, you will pick up a lot of little tricks that help you out. As always, if you have a problem that you can't fix, call us and we will walk you through how to repair the equipment. 

We receive about 7000 support calls every year, not including outgoing calls and emails. That is quite a lot. With as many National Parks as we service, it can sometimes start to stack up. A lot of the time that we spend on these calls is actually used getting ready to start the troubleshooting process. Whether that is getting to the hardware having the issue or starting a remote meeting , it can sometimes take awhile. Here are a few tips to help you prepare before making the call to cut down on the time it takes to fix the issue.
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1. As mentioned before, when a piece of equipment is acting up, we really do need to have someone in front of it. We need to have someone there to be our eyes and hands as we troubleshoot the equipment. 
2. For 99.9% of the calls we receive in regards to Advantage, Comm2000, or UDataMod software, we need to be able to see what you are seeing on your screen. We use Remote Meetings to do this. Having the meeting ready to go before you call saves a lot of time.
3. Make sure that the issue isn't something outside of the Hardware or Software that we provide. Network or power problems fall under the responsibility of your IT staff. If you aren't sure, give us a call anyway. We're pretty savvy with Information Technology and we'll always do our best to help.
4. If the issue involves people in multiple locations, it may be a good idea to start a conference call before giving us a call. We want to make sure that everyone is in the loop that needs to be so that the issue is resolved quickly.
5. Unless another arrangement has been made, we do require that those who call in for support have a support contract with us. This is basically a monthly or annual payment that gives you access to our expertise of the equipment and software. It also includes the updates and personalized programming changes that your park needs. For more information about our LSA Agreements, give us a call.

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We love serving the National Park Service and helping you work through issues in your Fee Program. We have a lot of experience and have seen almost everything, so please use us as a resource. Following these tips will seriously help cut down on wait time and troubleshooting time. We appreciate your willingness to work with us and help us continue to be the largest Point of Sale provider to the National Park Service.

Throughout the years of providing Point of Sale Support to the National Park Service, we have seen our share of silly issues. These are calls that make us laugh because of how simple they are to troubleshoot and fix. We are going to share with you our Top Six silly support issues that people have called us on. If you happen to be one of the people who called us with these issues, don't feel bad, we only laugh because all of us have made the same mistakes. 
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1. My printer is not printing!!! (Solution: Did you press the "On" switch?) 
2. My Register won't turn on!!! (Solution: Is the Power Cord plugged in?)
3. My Touchscreen is frozen!!! (Solution: They had cleaned the screen while it was still on and pressed all of the buttons. It overloaded the machine. A Service Reset Fixed it.)
4. I can't get my cash tray out of the drawer!!! (Solution: Try lifting it out. Granted they can be tricky to lift straight up.)
5. My card swipe isn't working. None of the Cards will work!!! (Solution:Try turning the card so the Mag Stripe faces the other way.)
6. I can't close my printer lid when I put in the new paper!!! (Solution: Remove plastic core left behind from last roll before putting in new roll.)

We've all had those moments when we can't figure out why something isn't working and the solution is something simple. Thank you to all of the people who called us with these great problems. Don't let this deter you from calling us with any problem you may have in the future. We love to help you even when it is something silly.