Typical Customer Support Calls from Hilton properties.

"Hello ... My eForms don't work"

"What actually happens when you print?"

"I called our OnQ Help desk and they spent hours working on our printers and then told me that I needed a new eChip from you."
"I need a new SmartBOX"
"Someone needs to come out and fix our BOX thing"
"I'm being told by my people here that I need to call you, the eChip isn't working"

"Those cost $200, but, most of the time, we can fix them over the phone. What actually happens when you print?"

"Nothing prints on our receipts/registrations/etc..."

"When you say nothing prints, do you mean a blank sheet of paper comes out? Or nothing comes out? Or a blank form comes out without any guest information? Or the guest information prints but there are no brand or olympic logos, lines or boxes?

No printing at all

"When we try to print to our printer, we see an error on the computer screen that says 'This document failed to print'."
"We called OnQ and they said that because there is a red light on the box, we need a new one"

Please pull the printer out and look for the SmartBOX behind it. If the light on the box is blinking red, press the black button on the box to clear that light and try to print again. The blinking red light indicates that the SmartBOX has lost its load of eForms images, most likely due to a power spike from a storm, power failure or construction. You will need to reload the forms into the SmartBOX, we will send out an update email that will guide you through the process, what is your email address?

If the light is a dull solid red, and you have an HP printer, the SmartBOX is missing it's AC adapter, the AC adapter is not plugged in, is defective, or the power connector on the SmartBOX is broken. SmartBOXs will try to pull power from any source, even from the printer or workstation through the data connectors in order to keep operating; on the less energy efficient IBM printers, this could be enough and the SmartBOX might have continued working even when the AC adapter fell out or was removed. On the new HP printers, the SmartBOX needs the extra power supplied by the A/C adapter; the printer supplies just enough power to light the light on the SmartBOX, but not enough for it to operate correctly.

To see if the A/C adapter is working, disconnect the SmartBOX from everything: From the printer, from the cable going to the desk, and from the AC adapter. Keep disconnecting until the light on the BOX is OUT. the light must be completely out before you continue. Now, look at the edge of the BOX between the two big metal connectors that cover either end. Find the little round socket in the square hole with the metal pin inside. This is were the A/C adapter needs to be connected. If there wasn't anything plugged into that hole, check under the desk for a "Condor" brand 6VDC positive center A/C adapter (aka "Wall Wart"). If you don't have it, the SmartBOX will not work. Please do NOT try any other AC adapter you find, as this will void your warranty. Use only: OUTPUT: 6VDC 800mA with 2.5mm plug and positive center. When you plug the A/C adapter (and nothing else) into the SmartBOX, you should see a bright light on the SmartBOX at least for a second or two.

If you do not see a light, at least for a few seconds on the SmartBOX with only the AC adapter connected, then the A/C adapter is not working, not plugged in, damaged or the SmartBOX is damaged. To see if the problem is the AC adapter or the SmartBOX, try plugging this SmartBOX in to the AC adapter at another, working, workstation. Replacements are available; please contact us.

If the A/C adapter is present, working and you get a flashing red light, press the black button on the side of the SmartBOX to clear the light and reconnect the SmartBOX as before. You will now be able to print, but the SmartBOX needs to be reloaded, ask your rep to send an Update email which will guide you through the short process of reloading the forms into the SmartBOX.

If the A/C adapter is present, working and you get a flashing green light, the SmartBOX needs to be replaced.

If the A/C adapter is present, working and you had a solid orange then a solid yellowish green light on the SmartBOX, or a solid red then no light on the SmartBOX, we should check to see if everything else is ok before we replace the box. Please disconnect the SmartBOX from everything, then take the cable coming from the desk and plug it directly into the printer, bypassing the SmartBOX. Now try to print again.

see the next section

"We have bypassed the SmartBOX, but we still can't print"
"There is an error message on the front panel of the printer"
"The printer is making grinding noises"
"This workstation is printing to printer A, and it is supposed to print to printer B"
"The printer has a little screen on the front panel, but it is blank"
"The little screen on the front of the printer shows a line of stars"
"There are no lights on the front of the printer or the SmartBOX and support said we needed a new eChip"

This section assumes that we just did {Please disconnect the SmartBOX from everything, then take the cable coming from the desk and plug it directly into the printer, bypassing the SmartBOX. Now try to print again.}

If you can't print at least the data without an eForm when the SmartBOX is removed, then the printer, cable, workstation or printer driver setup is at fault, not the SmartBOX. If we could help, we would be happy to do so, but we are only able to support the SmartBOX. The SmartBOX is not connected, and you still have a problem, so the SmartBOX is obviously NOT causing the problem: It isn't connected anymore. Please call the Help desk back and explain that the SmartBOX has been removed and the problem persists. We would appreciate it if you would ask them to remove our company name from this ticket so we don't get blamed for the problem. Thank you.

When they have the printer working without the SmartBOX, call us back and we will get it working WITH the SmartBOX.

No Data

"When we print, a blank form comes out without any guest information."

Restart the workstation.

No eForm

"When we print, the guest information is printed, but we do not see the eForm"
Please be absolutly sure this is actually the case before you go here... I get all sorts of people who think this is the issue but haven't actually tried to print anything on the workstation since the weekend or were just told by someone that this was the problem.

Is this happening on the receipts or registrations or both? Could you please try to print one of each?

No eForm at all, not on Reg, not on Reciepts

"When we print either receipts or registrations, we do not have the eForm"
Please be absolutly sure that this really is the case. Ask them to actually try printing one of each while they are on the phone with you. I often get calls where the reciepts are actually printing correctly, but the registrations are not and it does make a difference.

Disconnect the SmartBOX completely from every single thing it is connected to, then reconnect only the small black AC adapter cable. If the SmartBOX shows a flashing red light, press the black button on the side of the SmartBOX to clear the light and reconnect the SmartBOX as before. You will now be able to print, but the SmartBOX needs to be reloaded, ask your rep to send an Update email which will guide you through the short process of reloading the forms into the SmartBOX.

In OnQ front desk, pull down the Reports menu and select Reports List... In this new window, in the upper right corner, pull down the File menu, and select Printer Assignments. Click on the Folio Paper Printer. Make a note of the printer shown to the right of that line.

On the workstation, in the lower left corner of the screen, click on Start then Settings then Printers and Faxes. Look for that same printer, or if the printer was set to "unassigned" look for the printer driver with the small black check mark in front of it. Right click on the printer driver and select Properties from the bottom of the popup menu. Verify that the tab on the far right side says "Configure"; if it does not, eForms are not working because you do not have an eForms compatible printer driver installed. You will need to find or install the correct driver.

Click on the "Configure" tab. Is there a check mark in front of "Font D. I. M. M. S."? (spell out DIMMS slowly rather than saying it as dimms) If not, the eForms fonts are not installed.

If the fonts are installed, click the "Configure" button which is just below the check mark; do you see "EFPlus eForms" in the lower left box under "Installed DIMMS"? If not, the eForms fonts are not installed.

Is "EFPlus eForms" listed more than once? If so, click each one and click the Remove button, then click OK, then click the Configure... button again and reinstall the eForms fonts.

eForm on Receipts, but not Reg

"When we print receipts, we see the eForm, but when we print registrations, we do not have the eForm"
It is very likely that the SmartBOX is working correctly. The problem is in the setup of OnQ.

If you are a Homewood, you probably need an update to add the registration form as ID number 41. Dave can help with that.

If you are a Hampton, and you use the Small Registration Key Packet, and the data that does print on the registration does not include the words "GUEST IDENTIFICATION" then you need to complete step 3 of the SMRK setup.

If you do NOT use the Small Registration Key Packet, (you might use the full sized one instead?) and the data that prints on the registration DOES include the words "GUEST IDENTIFICATION" then you need to complete step 3 of the SMRK setup, but select "DISABLE" rather than "enable".

If you use the full sized Registration Key Packet, and the printer complains of short paper, check the previous paragraph first, then check your database maintenance settings under "HOTEL DEFAULTS", "RECEIPT PRINTING", to ensure that "Use keypacket format when printing pre-reg cards" IS checked. Save the setting and get out, then back into the front desk program.

If you use the plain paper registration, and the printer beeps before printing or requires that you press the button before it will print, or shows "unexpected paper size" then check your database maintenance settings under "HOTEL DEFAULTS", "RECEIPT PRINTING", to ensure that "Use keypacket format when printing pre-reg cards" is NOT checked. Save the setting and get out, then back into the front desk program.

In the OnQ front desk program, pull down the "Reports" menu and select "List of Reports...". When that new window opens, in the upper left corner, pull down the "File" menu and select "Printer Assignments." Notice the printer listed to the right of the words "Folio Paper Printer". Click on the "Reg Keypacket Printer" and set it to that same driver as the "Folio Paper Printer" using the pull down list at the bottom next to the word "Printers"

Disconnect the SmartBOX completely from every single thing it is connected to, then reconnect only the small black AC adapter cable. If the SmartBOX shows a flashing red light, press the black button on the side of the SmartBOX to clear the light and reconnect the SmartBOX as before. You will now be able to print, but the SmartBOX needs to be reloaded, ask your rep to send an Update email which will guide you through the short process of reloading the forms into the SmartBOX.

eForm on Reg, but not Reciepts

"When we print receipts, we do not see the eForm, but when we print registrations, we do have the eForm"

Check the number of columns on the detail area of the reciept against the number of columns of the eForms sent to the customer. This is a 21 vs 25 issue.