RE: 3M Self-Check 6210--hints, tips or tricks to making it more reliable?

["William Gray" <wgray at greenwichlibrary dot org>]

Thanks for the tips.  I was actually going to try for a USB keyboard
(mostly since other staff who have tried plugging in the ps/2 keyboard
managed to break the pins of one keyboard and have almost done in the
second...); unfortunately, since we're using Win95 on both SelfChecks,
USB is pretty much out of the question without a bit of a software
workaround (Win95 doesn't support USB), the installation of which would
probably violate the warranty.  But we do keep the keyboard handy.

Thanks again,

--Will

-----Original Message-----
From: innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org
[mailto:innopac-bounces at innopacusers dot org] On Behalf Of John Kenny
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 3:25 PM
To: IUG INNOPAC List
Subject: RE: 3M Self-Check 6210--hints,tips or tricks to making it more
reliable?

Will,
In general I agree with your rant.  We've had lots of problems with our
6210 machines including the thermal print units and their very finicky
paper feeding mechanism.

One good tip...use a USB keyboard.  With a USB keyboard you can keep
your keyboard close by and connect it without having to reboot your
machine.  This saves a tremendous amount of time...because our machines
take a long time to come back up.

Another tip is to make sure that your system is setup for SIP II.  If
you are experiencing lots of problems it might be a good idea to check
with the III HelpDesk and see if you are actually using SIP II.



-----Original Message-----
From: William Gray [mailto:wgray at greenwichlibrary dot org]
Sent: Thursday, February 10, 2005 8:30 AM
To: IUG INNOPAC List
Subject: 3M Self-Check 6210--hints,tips or tricks to making it more
reliable?

 
This will come off as a bit of a rant, and I apologize in advance (not
to 3M though)... If you feel you must skip the rant portion, I've
delineated the non-rant portion toward the bottom. The following are my
experiences and opinions in terms of operating and maintaining the
machines, and should in no way be considered the official stance of my
library (just the guy who has to fix them all the time).

And just in case you're wondering, I'm no newbie when it comes to
computers--I've been using them since I was in fifth grade, and I am an
A+ Certified Professional (PC technician). If there was an obvious
solution to the following problems, I like to think I would have seen
it.

***Rant on***
For the few years we've had our 3M 6210 SelfCheck machines, they have
been very undependable. I'm talking about frequent program freezes,
paper jams, items failing to check out (when there's nothing wrong with
them), etc.

Just now I was in the middle of giving a patron a tutorial on using the
machines; I had to skip our first machine because the start screen was
frozen and would not respond to keypresses (I later restarted the
program). With the second machine, we managed to check out her first 3
books okay, then the machine indicated a problem with the fourth book
(nothing very descriptive, mind you, just "bring it to the desk"). So, I
go to check the item out to the patron using a Millennium session, and
there's nothing wrong with the book at all.  This happens a *lot*.

Never mind that one machine has had 3 (perhaps 4--I've lost count)
computers swapped through it because each one failed for whatever
reason, as well as three printers (also, could be 4...) because of
printer hardware failures. If that machine was a car, it would be a
lemon, and after all our complaints about it a reputable dealer would
have replaced the whole machine (yes, we have a current service
agreement).  One machine came with Windows 95; the other we got later
and it came with Win2K. The Win2K version crashed about 5 times as often
as the Win95, so we had that machine downgraded to Win95, which reduced
the number of crashes significantly.

We've followed 3M recommendations, i.e. shut the machines down at night
and start them again in the morning--I did this for a number of weeks,
and it resolved nothing.

To top it all off, at the IUG last year, when I (as well as some of you)
were attending a session on getting the most from our 3M SelfChecks, one
of you indicated some of the problems you'd had with your machine(s).
Then another spoke up, and another, and I did as well. At which point,
the 3M rep in the room stood up and asked for people's names and contact
info so he could follow up with all of us and resolve our problems. Were
any of you ever contacted? Because I sure as heck wasn't.

The 3M-designated service people who come out to fix the problems I
can't (or am not allowed to) fix, are great. I have no quarrel with them
or their abilities. But 3M corporate seems to care less now that they
have our money. After every time I have to place a service call, I end
up getting one of those "how are we doing" surveys and I give high marks
for the service people and low ones for the equipment. I've been
contacted once by a 3M sales rep, who wasn't able to do anything for us.
We're talking 3-4 years here.
***Rant off***

My question now, is, have any of you (who have had the same types of
problems with their machines) come up with any fixes or workarounds to
get them to work more dependably? If so, I'd love to hear from you (you
may want to post to the list so we can all benefit). As it stands, we've
been trying to encourage more use of the machines, but I can see that
all it's going to do is cause more problems for our patrons (and us) if
they have to come to desk staff every time they go to use one of the
machines because the machines failed in one way or another.

Thanks in advance.

--Will

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