Print Release Stations

by Jason Keltz - Sept. 2002

The Print Release Stations in the Maxwell Lab (csb1002) are maintained by the Prism lab monitors during regular lab hours. They are available for printing 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

At the start of a shift, please ensure that both Print Release Stations in csb1002 (Maxwell Lab) are working. Touch the screens if they are blank and ensure that you see the main Print Release Station screen. If you do not see the main Print Release Station screen, follow these instructions:

  1. Check that the touch screen monitor is on. If the monitor is on, the left light will be green. The right light will be amber if the screen is in power saving mode. If the monitor is not on, turn it on by pressing the centre (power) button.
  2. Check that the PC is on. The PC is on if the right-most light is green. If the PC is not on, turn it on by pressing the power button (the right-most button on the PC).
  3. If there is still no response from the touch screen, press the reset button on the PC. The reset button is the right-most button on the PC, right beside the power light.
  4. Once the PC has booted, if the touch screen is still inactive, please send mail to "fixprism".
When a printer error condition persists for more than a minute, the Print Release Station takes itself out of service and displays an "out of service" banner on the screen. When this happens, all print jobs (including a currently printing job or jobs waiting to print) are transferred back to the hold queue (prism) for printing on a different station. When you see this screen, you know that there is a problem that you must deal with.

Since the printer cages block the printers LCD display, the bottom line on the Print Release Station screen attempts to report what is on the printers display. The only time that the last line of the display will not show the current error is if the printer is off, or if the printer has crashed with a "79 FE Error". In these cases, you will need to open the printer cage to see the particular error on the display.

Follow these instructions for access to the printer cage:

  1. Unlock the lock on the cage, and remove it. The key to the lock is in the monitors cabinet.
  2. Pull the lever on the front door up, and hold it up while pulling the door outwards. Pulling up on the lever releases a long metal bar that is inserted into a hole in the bottom of the printer cage, holding the door closed. If you do not lift the lever up, the door will not move.
  3. If you need easy access to the printer top, the hinged top lifts up and can rest against the wall behind the printer. However, be aware that the front door has a lip that sits on top of the top door, so you will be unable to open the top door unless the front door is open, and is in line with the left side of the printer cage.
  4. If you need access to the sides of the printer, you need to remove the printer from the cage. There are no side access panels on the printer cages. To do this, you must release the locks on the two front wheels (slide the black latch up), and gently slide the printer partially out of the printer cage. (It is preferable if the two rear wheels remain in the printer cage to make putting the printer back inside easier.)
When you are done solving the problem with the printer, you can follow these instructions to close the printer cage:
  1. If you removed the printer from the cage, gently slide it back inside. Please be careful not to run over the network cord or the power cord. Be sure to re-lock both front wheels (slide the black latch down).
  2. If you opened the cage top, close the top. To close the top, the front door must be in line with the left side of the printer cage.
  3. Close the front door. It will rest on top of the top door. Remember that you need to lift the lever up to be able to move the door.
  4. Put the lock back into the hole on the front of the printer cage, and lock it. PLEASE CHECK THAT THE DOOR DOES NOT OPEN WITH THE LOCK IN PLACE. IF YOU HAVE NOT CLOSED THE DOOR PROPERLY, SOMEONE WILL BE ABLE TO OPEN THE DOOR, SLIDE THE PRINTER OUT, AND SLIDE THE PRINTER OUT OF THE LAB!
  5. Since one of the main purposes of the Print Release Stations is secure printing, please ensure that any print jobs left by the printer are discarded. Also, if you are clearing a paper jam, the print station has already sent the job back to the main queue, and the user has probably already printed it elsewhere. Do not let the unjammed printer continue to print the last job that it was printing before the jam occurred! To stop this from happening, either turn the printer off and on to clear its memory, or cancel the job using the "Cancel" button before closing it back up.
  6. Don't forget to return the key for the printer cages to the monitors cabinet. Without this key, other monitors will be unable to maintain the printers.
At the end of your shift, please ensure that both Print Release Stations are filled with paper. Please fill all printer trays to maintain the most paper possible.