You may have done some of this, but bear with me - the key to solving is to narrow the range of potential causes. These printers have a magnetic encoder module to write to the mag-stripe. There are 3 main areas that could cause the printed/encoded cards to not function, so you'd have to check/verify each before isolating it to the specific module.
- 1. The software package used to direct the printer for writing the encoding stripe;
- 2. The printer/encoder itself;
- 3. The access-control system (hardware/software) that reads the stripe and allows access to secured locations.
Without test equipment, you can't tell whether something has actually been written to the mag-stripe. But you should nonetheless verify the settings of your badge printing & encoding software. If you have access to a comparable printer to the DTC550, you can try the same badge software on it to see if it works there;
You should also check the logs written by the access control software. See what is written in the log when swiping a good card, then a bad (or blank) card. This MAY give you a time as to whether anything is written at all; written in a bad format; or even that the access controls haven't been established or enabled for that particular card.
By eliminating what it can't be, you should be able to isolate to the encoding module itself (or have solved otherwise). Once you're down to the only thing left, you can see about a repair or replacement. Repair can be anything from cleaning or re-aligning the current module, a bad data-connection to the module, or the entire module.
Bottom-line is that there may be many options before looking into a complete replacement.
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