How to Help Yourself Troubleshooting Palm Pinnacle Corporation Daniel Ledbetter

How to Help Yourself
Troubleshooting Palm
Pinnacle Corporation
Daniel Ledbetter
Bio + Company Info
 I am a Client Support Senior Analyst I with
the Pinnacle Corporation.
 Overall I have 14 years of software
troubleshooting experience.
 Prior to the last 7 years with the Palm
Support Team, I spent a 7 year tour of duty
in the trenches at Microsoft, troubleshooting
Windows and Office products.
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Troubleshooting Palm
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Understanding Logs
Palm Software Issues
Palm Hardware Issues
Palm Credit Issues
Journal Manager Issues
Troubleshooting Tools
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Understanding Logs
 The best thing you can do to help yourself when troubleshooting Palm issues
is to be able to understand Palm logging.
 What they are
 What they contain
 How to read them
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Understanding Logs
Palm General Log(YYYYMMDD.Log)
The general log captures generic information such as card
discrimination, item ringing, startup and shutdown, special window
accessing and error messages displayed to cashier. Log levels are
1-4 and 6. Log levels are set in the POS.INI [SYSTEM] section,
LogLevel setting.
Palm Card Discrimination Log (YYYYMMDD.CRD)
The card discrimination log holds all information about Palm‟s
discrimination sequence. This log can be used to troubleshoot
issues when card swipes are not recognized. This log can be turned
on in the [Credit] section of CREDIT.INI. CardLogLevel=0 or 6.
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Understanding Logs
Palm Inside Credit Log (YYYYMMDD.CDT)
The credit log captures all inside credit data except card
discrimination. The credit log shows information about credit
transactions request/response data from the host, and
approval/denial information. To setup the credit log go to the
CREDIT.INI [Credit] section and set LogInfo=Yes or No.
Palm DPT Credit Log (YYYYMMDD.DPT)
The DPT log contains messages that are specific to the DPT server
machine. Log levels are 1-4, to set the log level go to the LogLevel
setting in the [DPT] section of GAS.INI.
R232 Protocol Log (YYYYMMDD.gas.R232Protocol)
The R232Protocol log captures data sent from the Allied/Nexgen
box to the dispensers and Point of Sale.
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Understanding Logs
Palm Printer Log (YYYYMMDD.PRN)
The printer log captures the start and end time/date of every ticket
printed. The printer log levels are 0-6 and are set in the
[ReceiptPrinter] section of POS.INI.
Palm Cash Drawer Log (YYYYMMDD.DRW)
The cash drawer log captures all drawer open/close data, drawer
status information, and drawer open events. The valid settings for
log level is 0-2: 0-None, 1-log only errors, 2-log all transmitting
data and are set in the POS.INI [CashDrawer] section.
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Understanding Logs
Palm JC Client Log (YYYYMMDD.Jcclient)
The JC client log file is created by JCClient.dll file and captures
the version number of the .exe and communication errors. JC client
log levels are 0-1 and are set in the POS.INI file [JC Client]
section.
Palm Money Order Log (YYYYMMDD.MRD)
The money order log captures the messages from Palm to the
Money Order machine. Money Order log levels are 0-6 and are set
in the POS.INI file [Money Order] section using loglevel=
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Palm Software Issues
When troubleshooting issues with your Palm Software, such as Blank or black fuel
displays, stuck transactions, errors when loading palm, buttons that don‟t work
properly you would review the following logs:
• .log
• .cdt
• .dpt
• .r232Protocol
You may also need to review your j_files, ini files or Pos*.* files for errors or
incorrect settings.
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Palm Hardware Issues
When issues occur with your Palm Hardware, such as peripherals not functioning,
hardware error messages, etc. you will want to start your troubleshooting with the
following files:
• .log
• .drw
• .prn
• .mrd
You may also want to review your ini files for errors, incorrect opos names, and
incorrect port numbers among other things
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Palm Credit Issues
When issues occur with credit, such as batching problems, credit
down, errors processing certain card types, strange denial
messages, etc., you will want to start your troubleshooting in the following logs:
• .log
• .cdt
• .dpt
In the Pharoh\YourNIMsName folder include:
• .log
NOTE: If you are using NBS it uses its own folder (c:\pinnacle by default) and
does not have a subfolder for logs.
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Journal Manager Issues
When issues occur with your Journal Software, such as data not
flowing, problems with day close, missing data or shifts, or unable
to start journal or shift manager you will want to start your troubleshooting with
the following logs:
In the C:\Dpalm\logs folder
• jcclient.log
In the Oaswin/jm_logs folder
• Jcsenior.log
In the Oaswin folder
• J_error.dbf
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Troubleshooting Tools
There are several tools we use for troubleshooting issues or repair. Some of
these include:
• Log Analyzer
• PS Pad
• JcDiag
• Palm Simulator
There are others that are designed for specific applications such as the Allied
Electronics DGS application.
In the following slides we will cover a few of these applications and how they are
used to troubleshoot issues and reduce time to resolution.
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Log Analyzer
Log analyzer is a tool that can
be used to discover hidden
issues. When first launched you
will see this screen. Click on
the Analyze button and select a
log file or drag and drop a log
file onto the window to begin.
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Log Analyzer
The first screen you will see is
the Statistics screen. This
screen gives you a quick
overview of what was found in
the log.
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Log Analyzer - Starts
Starts will show you the time of
all valid Shutdowns and Starts
[S] for the server
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Log Analyzer - Errors
Errors will give you a list of all
Errors [E] recorded in the log
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Log Analyzer - Cancels
Cancels will give you a list of all
cancels (IQR, OQR, etc.)
recorded in the log
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Log Analyzer - Denials
Denials gives you a list of all
transactions that were denied
There are 5 buttons at the
bottom of the screen that
separate the denials into groups
In order from left to right they
are Authorizations, Sales,
Completions, Voids, and Other
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Log Analyzer - Missing
Missing gives a detailed list of
the transactions that came into
the NIM [P]< and then did not
leave [P]>
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Log Analyzer - Incomplete
Incomplete is a detailed list of
the transactions that did not
complete.
i.e. an OAR but no OFR
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Log Analyzer - Times
Times is a breakdown of
transaction times recorded in
the log. This screen can be
viewed either as a list or a
graph. There are several
choices at the bottom of the
window to filter your view. You
can choose to include Collects,
Green, Orange or Red
transactions
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Log Analyzer - Gaps
Gaps gives you a breakdown of
any gaps in processing during
the day where nothing was
recorded.
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Log Analyzer - Memory
Memory gives you an easy to
view list of the memory usage
recorded throughout the day.
This is helpful in locating points
in time where memory usage
peaks and may be causing
problems.
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Log Analyzer - Spread
Spread gives you a breakdown
of the number of transactions
that occur during the time frame
you select.
There are three(3) choices for
the spread, 15 minutes, 30
minutes or 60 minutes.
You also have the options for
Green, Orange and Red
transactions , along with the
adjustable cutoff for the green
and orange
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Log Analyzer - Uploads
The Uploads section allows you
to setup automatic analysis and
upload of the logs . Analysis
can be setup to occur every day
between specific time ranges or
every X hours and be uploaded
to another location when
triggered.
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Log Analyzer – Upload Triggers
Triggers will allow you to set
specific triggers that will initiate
upload of the analysis. You can
set any number of triggers from
no triggers to „Always upload
logs‟. Triggers include „Number
of starts‟, errors, cancels , etc.
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Log Analyzer
At any time you can click on the
path statement at the bottom of
the screen to open the log file in
your default text editor.
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PSPad editor
A very powerful tool for
reviewing logs is the PSPad
editor (www.pspad.com).
By using the find function along
with tags you can quickly pull
out the key portions of the log
for review.
To see all of the primary tags
without the additional details ,
from the find window click the
check box for regular
expressions, enter \[[SWEPT]\]
in the find box, select Entire
Scope and click List or hit alt-L.
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Log Analysis using Tags
Marker Meaning
NTS logs make heavy use of
Tags/markers.
Tags allow you to quickly
extract the skeleton – The Palm
traffic, The Host traffic and any
errors
[S]
Start/Shutdown
[W]
Warning
[E]
Critical Error
[P]<
Incoming request from Palm
[P]>
Outgoing response to Palm
[T]<
Incoming response from Host
[T]>
Outgoing request to Host
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PSPad - Features
PSPad has several helpful tools
built in that can aid you in
locating data within your ini
files or your XML files such as
Code Explorer
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PSPad - Shortcuts
Being able to quickly and
confidently move through a log
is essential
Shortcut
Action
CTRL+F
SEARCH/FIND WINDOW
ALT+L
IN FIND WINDOW - LIST SEARCH RESULTS
ALT+Y
IN FIND WINDOW – COPY SEARCH RESULTS
SHIFT+UP ARROW
SEARCH UP FOR SELECTED STRING
CTRL+L
SHOW/HIDE SEARCH RESULTS
CTRL+TAB
SHOW/HIDE SEARCH RESULTS
CTRL+SHIFT+1
SET/UNSET BOOKMARK 1
CTRO+SHIFT+2
SET/UNSET BOOKMARK 2
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JC Cache Diagnostics
JC Cache Diagnostics or JCDiag
is a tool designed to repair and
work with journal.cache files.
JCDiag.exe and JCDiag.RLI are
located in the
dpalm\utils\pinnacle folder and
can be run from that location.
Once the JC Cache Diagnostics
tool is running you will need to
open the cache file you want to
work with either by clicking on
file-open or selecting the “open
a cache file” button on the
toolbar.
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Palm Simulator
Palm Simulator or PalmSim is the tool used to rebuild journal.cache files from
j_files on the Palm register. Palm Simulator can only recover what data is
available in the j_files so remember to set your savehours in POS.ini to a value
that will ensure you have data you need.
Palm Simulator requires specific files in order to run, so it cannot be run from the
Dpalm\utils\pinnacle folder. Detailed instructions for setup and use are
available on Pinncorp.com in the Tech Notes section under Client ServicesProducts & Solutions-Palm POS
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TransID Edit Tool
TransIDEdit.exe was created for
users to modify the TransID registry
entry without having to use regedit.
On startup the TransID and
FailedTransID registry entries are
read. If the TransID registry entry
does not exist, an error message is
displayed, logged, and the
application shuts down. If the
FailedTransID registry entry does
not exist, it is created and initialized
to -1. If FailedTransID is greater than
TransID, then the FailedTransID
value is stored in the TransID
registry entry and the FailedTransID
registry entry is reset to -1.
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TransID Edit Tool
The current value of TransID is
displayed in a text box. The
value can be modified.
The “Reset to Zero” button will
set the TransID value to zero
and a message will display
stating whether or not the
change was successful.
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TransID Edit Tool
The “Save Changes” button will
save the value from the text box
to the TransID registry entry
and a message will display
stating whether or not the
change was successful.
If the user hits the enter key
while the text box has focus or
the application is closed and the
value in the text box differs from
what is stored in the registry, the
user will be prompted about
whether or not to save their
changes.
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Thank you!
Are there any questions?