Label Printing Problems

Label Printing Problems

We see two main label printing problems:

  • Misaligned Lables
  • Communication Problems

Misaligned Labels

Sometimes the Zebra label printers will lose their calibration of the "Page Breaks" for the lables. If this occurs, you may see 1/2 of the print on 1 label, and 1/2 on another.  You are easily able to correct this by recalibrating the label printer media sensor.  In order to recalibrate: 

  1. Press and hold the feed button for several seconds.  The green status LED will eventually blink or flash. 
  2. Keep the button held down until the LED flashes two times.  The printer will kick out a bunch of labels to calibrate itself, and then it should "rest" at a label break. 
  3. To test to ensure that it worked well, you can print out a "configuration label" by keeping the feed button held down until it flashes one time. 

 Communication Problems

 The Zebra label printers we use with SpecVet are network devices and must be actively on your network with a proper address, and that address needs to be stored within the setup of SpecVet.  Typically on the side of each printer should be a label which provides the IP Address for that printer. It may look something like: 192.168.1.9. This is its network address.  By printing a configuration label (See #3 above) you can validate the IP address of the printer and ensure that it matches. 

IT Staff can also use other tools to "Ping" the IP address to ensure that the printer is on the network and properly responding. 

If you have problems; most common issues are bad network cables, bad data ports, etc.  Try to unplug the network cables and plug them back in, then power cycle the printer.  You may also try to move the printer to another data port, or switch the cable.