Datacard Printer Support

You’ll be able to resolve many errors and problems on yourDatacard printer by running a Printer Self Test. Follow these steps to carry it out:

1. Press the ‘User’ button and enter the menu system.
2. When ‘Suspended’ displays, press the ‘Enter’ button.
3. ‘Maintenance’ should now display. Press ‘Enter’ again. 
4. ‘Cleaning Card’ will now display. Press the Down arrow key.
5. ‘Test Card’ will appear. Press ‘Enter’.
6. ‘Start’ will appear on the display. Press ‘Enter’ a final time to initiate a print test.

A breaking ribbon is annoying and causes inconvenience, but the issue should be easy enough to resolve. Firstly, you need to tape the ribbon back together. To ensure the ribbon doesn’t break again:

1. Clean your Datacard printer by running a cleaning cycle. This ensures all dust and debris that can cause a ribbon to break are removed.
2. Ensure you’re running the latest firmware update.
3. Ensure your cards are of good quality and are not contaminated.
4. Attempt to print using a different ribbon.
5. If the issue continues, cleaning your printer with compressed air will help remove any remaining dust and debris.
6. Ensure your printer is connected to its corresponding power supply lead.
7. Run a test print.

Read more about stopping ribbon breakages here.

If you’ve noticed the quality of print has dropped or you’re experiencing regular ribbon breakages, it’s a good idea to adjust the print head power. To do this:

1. Go to your ‘Devices’ folder and choose ‘XPS Card Printer’.
2. Select ‘Printer Properties’ and then select the ‘Printer Status’ tab.
3. Click on ‘Configure Printer’ to initiate the Printer Manager interface.
4. Select ‘Web Admin’ from the drop-down menu and login.
5. In the ‘Printer Setting’ menu, select ‘Print’.
6. Scroll to ‘YMC’ Power. This allows you to adjust the print head power. Remember that increasing the value will darken your bprint, while decreasing it will lighten the image. You should adjust the power in incremental jumps and then carry out a test print to see if you have solved your problem
7. Click ‘Set Current’ to save the settings.
8. Adjust it again accordingly if required.

From time to time, a card may become jammed in the printer. You can normally resolve the error by pressing the ‘User’ button until the printer displays ‘Ready’ However, if the problem persists, carry out the following:

1. Open the printer.
2. Remove the printer ribbon cartridge.
3. You’ll be able to manually advance the cartridge using the advance knob to remove the card from the cartridge.
4. If necessary, fix the printer ribbon with tape and manually advance it until the taped section is within the rollers.
5. Press the ‘User’ button, or click ‘Retry’ in your card-printing software program to continue printing.

If you’re still finding your printed ID cards have a white line across them after carrying out a thourough printer clean, it unfortunately means that your print head has become damaged. This means a pixel (or several) no longer print as they should. 

You should contact our team who’ll be able to identify the issue and source a new print head. You can find details on Datacard’s warranty service lower down on this page.

This may mean that the cards have an overlay on them making them unsuitable for dye sublimation printing, or the card has already been through the printer and has feint pre-printing on them.

This happens because plastic cards are statically charged and, even if they were clean when you put them in the printer, can pick up tiny dust and dirt particles once they’re in the printer itself. 

You should thoroughly clean your printer and try printing on a fresh set of cards.