XLscorePRO stops printing tickets after a break

[BillGorman]

I have been running into a problem where the timing system is running fine in the morning, then I take a break for lunch and the system sits idle for an hour or so. When I return, the racing resumes but the printer does not respond and no timeslips get printed after a run. Never noticed this before when there were two of us running the system and we each took a short break so the drivers could get as many runs in as possible. A reboot of the PC seems to resolve the printing issue for the rest of the day. Is our printer getting old or am I? Any ideas what is happening?

[raceamerica]

Make sure the PC does not have any virus protection software installed and does not go to sleep when not in use.

Virus protection will detect all the data flow from the drag software as a virus and cause all types of odd behavior. Turning virus protection off will not be enough since it is still running in the background.

Sleep mode should be disabled to prevent Windows from going to sleep when files are open with the program.
Many times when Windows wakes back up, the open files go into a limbo state and block access. The printer port will end up looking like an open file and may be blocked by the file confusion. A reboot of the PC resets all the files and open ports and normality returns.

When there were two of you manning the timing system, the PC may have never gone to sleep but now the idle times has increased and Windows goes to sleep waking up when you return.

[BillGorman]

I think you are right. I do not remember the PC going to sleep in the past due to we kept the timing system active during the competition break. Now we do not run the timing system while at lunch break and the PC needs to wake up to resume. I do not exit the XLscore program during the lunch break.

If I exit the program and Windows goes to sleep, is that okay? The PC runs on its internal battery so conservation of run time helps extend the battery and our run time.

[raceamerica]

If I exit the program and Windows goes to sleep, is that okay?

Yes, exiting the program before your lunch break will cause Windows to close all open files and COM ports. Restarting the program when you return will place the program at the same spot where it was when it was closed. I would suggest doing a BACKUP before the break as an added level of redundancy in the event something goes wrong with the PC during bootup.