Additional Resources
This Troubleshooting Guide is designed to help you solve many of the most common challenges encountered when using the STX desktop software.
STX uses ‘server’ files when accessing the database. If you have only a single computer, that is your Server computer. If you have more than one computer on a local network, there is a Server computer with Workstation computers connecting to the Server computer through a local / remote network.
Always make sure the Server computer is never set to go to sleep, the Firewall is turned off, and the STX application is not listed in the Login Items. Each of these settings can be found by going to the Apple menu and selecting the System Preferences option.
- Security & Privacy > Firewall tab > Firewall should be Off
- Energy Saver > Sleep options:
- Computer sleep ‘slider bar’ should be Never
- Put Hard Disks to sleep when possible should be unchecked
- Enable Power Nap should be unchecked
- Users and Groups > Admin User > Login Items tab should not have STX listed
For additional assistance please feel free to contact the STX technical support department at 800.766.4778. Please note, technical support fees may apply.
The following are technical support phone numbers for third party companies whose information may be related to your challenge:
Apple: 800.275.2273
First Nationwide Payments: 800.537.1678
Aatrix Payroll: 701.746.6017
CheckMark Payroll: 920.225.0387
Dymo Label Writer: 203.588.2500
Starting/Launching STX
CHALLENGE: Unable to connect to the server
Description: The STX application is not able to connect with the files located on the Server computer.
Click the Choose another server… button.
If the above error message is showing on the Server and STX can’t be started:
- Enter 127.0.0.1 in the Server Address field and click OK.
- If the same window reappears, restart the Server computer properly using the Apple menu and select the “Restart” option.
- If the challenge persists, contact STX technical support.
If the above error message is showing on a local Workstation and STX can be started on the Server, you should see the Server listed in the Local Servers box. If not:
- Check the network connection of the workstation computer:
- If Ethernet:
- Check the cable connection to the computer, hub, switch, router and/or wireless base station. Simply, unplug and plug in each end of the cable.
- The cable connecting to this Workstation computer is potentially malfunctioning. Replace the cable.
- If Wireless:
- Check the wireless network, making sure it is connecting to the same network currently connected to the server.
- Other:
- This Workstation computer is malfunctioning. Contact a hardware professional.
If the above error message is showing on a Remote Workstation and STX can be started on both the Server and the local Workstation computer(s):
- The Server IP address has probably changed. Follow these steps to look up and enter the new IP address:
- On the Server computer, go to www.yougetsignal.com
- Click the What Is My IP Address link
- Record the IP Address
- Enter the IP address on the Remote Workstation in the Server Address field
- The Internet router, modem or wireless base station is no longer connecting properly. Check the following:
- Be sure the ethernet cable is properly connecting to the modem, router or wireless base station. Unplug and re-plug each end of the cable.
- Be sure the modem, router or wireless base station is turned on.
- The modem, router or wireless base station may need to be restarted/rebooted.
- The modem, router or wireless base station may need to be reconfigured for Remote Access. Contact your network professional to assist with port forwarding or setting up a VPN.
Login Challenges
Challenge: Entering the correct password, but it is not being accepted.
Solution: Make sure the Caps Lock key is off on the keyboard. Passwords are case sensitive.
Challenge: Employee login and password will not work.
Solution: The employee ID field might have a blank space at either the beginning or the end of it.
- Log into STX using the OWNER password.
- Go to Setup > Employees
- Click to highlight the employee having challenges logging into STX.
- Double-click the ID field and reenter the ID.
- Click Save.
- Close the Employee Setup Window.
- Log Out.
- Log into STX using the employee’s ID and password.
Challenge: "Your STX License will expire soon.”
Solution: Call STX Software at 800.766.4778 Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm ET to request a renewed license key.
Challenge: The STX icon is missing from the Dock.
Solution: The icon must have accidentally been removed from the Dock. To put the icon (shortcut) for STX back into the Dock:
- Open a new Finder window.
- Open the Applications folder.
- Drag STX to the dock and place the icon into the desired location. The other dock icons will move when you’re dragging STX around the dock.
Challenge: ‘Account Temporarily Disabled’
Solution: The account is only locked for 30 minutes starting on the sixth failure and resetting for 30 minutes each time a password is attempted WITHIN that first 30 minute period. Even if the CORRECT password is entered during the 30-minute lockout, it will not accept it. Instead the timer will start the 30-minute waiting period over again.
For STX v284 or higher will allow for a recovery code to be emailed or texted to the OWNER to reset the OWNER only Password. If an email or mobile phone number to receive texts for the OWNER password recovery in the STX software has not been setup, please contact STX Support at 800.766.4778 to update the STX Software or receive additional assistance.
If you have locked an employee account, the owner will need to log into STX and reset the password for the employee by going to Setup > Employees > Security tab for the locked out employee. Click the Change Password button to reset the employee’s password.
Setup Challenges
Challenge: When entering a new item in Setup, the name reverts to New... when the window is closed.
Solution: Make sure to Tab out of the name field to record the change before closing the window.
The name being entered may already be in use. Try another name. If you do not see the duplicate name in the list of active items, check the Show Inactive checkbox to show inactive items. If a duplicate exists, then rename either the inactive or new item and click Save.
Challenge: An entire group of items previously entered are now missing / not showing.
Solution: The group must have inadvertently been made inactive. Check the Show Inactive checkbox which will reveal inactive items. Check the Active box to make the appropriate group active.
Challenge: How do I select the services to be taxed?
Solution: Enter the service tax percentage in Setup > General > Company Info. Then go to Setup > Services > Services tab. Highlight a service and check the Taxable checkbox.
Challenge: “The serviceGroup property of STXMService must have a STXMServiceGroup assigned.”
Solution: At least one Service Note Type needs to be activate:
- Go to Setup > Services and click the Notes tab.
- Click Show Inactive checkbox to activate the General note type.
- Click the Save button.
Appointment Challenges
Challenge: An employee is not showing on the appointment book.
Solutions: The employee is either terminated or the “Allow booking this employee checkbox” is unchecked.
Terminated Employee:
- Go to Setup > Employees and check the Show Terminated checkbox
- Click the name of the terminated employee
- Go to the Payroll tab and remove the Termination Date
- Click the Save button and close the window
- “Allow booking this employee” checkbox not checked:
- Go to Setup > Employees and click the name of the employee
- Go to the Services tab
- Check the “Allow booking this employee” checkbox
- Click the Save button and close the window
Challenge: Even though the calendar shows the time slot is available, the system will not allow an appointment to be booked.
Solutions: Either the Service time interval is 0 or blank, or there is an unavailable Resource.
- If the service requires a resource, the resource may not be available. Review other appointments scheduled for the same time of the day and see if all the required resources will be in use at the time you are trying to book this service.
- If the service does not require a resource or the required resources are available then:
- Go to Setup > Employees > Services tab for the employee you’re trying to book
- Highlight the Service and look at Selected Service Detail to make sure at least one interval is checked as Book Employee or Book Associate and the interval has the number of minutes the service takes to perform.
Challenge: Services an employee performs are not showing up when I go to book an appointment for them.
Solution: The services are not set properly on the employee record.
- Go to Setup > Employees > Services tab for the employee you’re trying to book
- Make sure all services the employee performs have a check in the checkboxes
- Highlight the Service and look at Selected Service Detail to make sure at least one interval is checked as Book Employee or Book Associate and the interval has the number of minutes the service takes to perform.
Transaction Challenges
Challenge: Entering a Cash In/Out transaction or trying to open Cash Counting but the buttons are not available.
Solutions: There must be a cash drawer configured, and the logged in employee must have security access to perform the Cash In/Out and Cash Counting.
- STX requires a Cash Drawer be configured for each computer in order to enter cash transactions.
- Go to Setup > General > Cash Drawer
- Select the Cash Drawer to configure (use the ‘none’ port if no cash drawer is attached to this computer)
- Check the employee's password access.
- Go to Setup > Employees > Security tab for the employee
- Click the triangle down next to Transactions
- Make sure access is given for Cash In/Out and Cash Counting, if appropriate
Challenge: A refund to a credit card needs to be completed.
Solution: PLEASE NOTE: Never adjust or refund on the original ticket. Always make a new ticket. Remember, once a ticket has been paid for it is done. Additional charges, refunds, etc. should be done on a new ticket.
- Create a New ticket for the client.
- Any Credit Card Refund MUST have a corresponding item on the refund tab. Go to the Refunds tab and enter select a service or product. Select the appropriate employee, then make sure the Net price reflects the correct amount because that is the amount that will be refunded.
- Click the Payments tab and select the payment type of the CC you are refunding.
- Swipe the card or manually key in the number and expiration date.
- Put in the refund amount as a negative - DO NOT CLICK AUTHORIZE.
- Once refund amount is entered as a negative value, use your “tab” key to tab on through
- Cancel and Credit will be the only buttons you should see.
- Click the “Credit” button to process the refund back to the credit card.
Challenge: After doing a client visit refund with cash back, my cash counting sheet if off by the exact amount of the refund.
Solution: The transaction total will show change back if the refund amount is more than the purchase amount. You must click the Cash icon and enter a negative (-) in front of the amount to be refunded in order for cash counting to balance.
Challenge: Cash Counting Sheet is off and the prior closing balance is being carried over into the next day's totals.
Solution: The prior closing balance will carry over if the prior day's cash drawer was not closed in Cash Counting. You must click the Close Drawer button when Cash Short and Cash Over are both $0.00. The prior closing balance will still appear in Cash Counting, but will not be added to the current day's balances.
Challenge: Gift certificate for a client seems to be missing.
Solution: Check the Unused checkbox on the Payments tab to show all gift certificates with unused balances for all clients. Find the gift certificate by number, check the Use box to select the gift certificate and attach it to the client.
Challenge: When on the Gifts tab of a ticket, receive the Error screen similar to, “ Error executing SQL: Exception 239 (22:001) Data exception – string data, right truncation. ...”
Solution: The maximum number of characters that can add in the Message Field of a Gift Certificate is 200. Click OK, then state the message in less than 200 total characters.
Challenge: "The payment is not fully filled in." However on the ticket, the payment types and amounts are correct and there is no balance due.
Solutions: One if the fields related to an activated payment type on the ticket is not filled in.
- A payment type setup to use the reference field does not have information entered. Enter the appropriate information into the reference field. Or go to Setup > Finance > Payment Types tab. Uncheck the Uses Reference Field checkbox for the payment type.
- An amount was entered in the amount field without clicking on the payment icon. Always click the payment type icon first and then enter or change the amount.
- A payment type was selected by clicking the payment icon, then the amount entered was deleted. Click the payment type icon to deselect it.
Challenge: Credit card reader is not reading the card numbers when it is swiped.
Solution: It is very common for the MagTek card reader to get dirty. It may not read any or all of the information on the magnetic stripe. Wrap a dollar bill around a credit card and run it through the card reader several times. The paper currency is printed on is the best cleaner.
Purchase Order Challenges
Challenge: The purchase orders are not updating the On Hand quantities.
Solution: Two items are required to update the On Hand quantities when the delivery is saved:
- Click the checkbox in the Closed column for all products received.
- Enter the Date Delivered.
Challenge: Inactive products are showing up on purchase orders.
Solution: Inactive products will only show on the purchase order if the On Hand and Minimum quantities are greater than 0.
- Go to Setup > Products > Products tab
- Check the Show Inactive checkbox
- Find the appropriate product
- Enter 0 (zero) for the On Hand Qty and the Minimum Qty
- Click the Save button and close the window
Client Marketing Challenges
Challenge: Error Massage - SQL Error Syntax Error 039 - In Client Marketing
Solution: The following message will display in Client Marketing when trying to set Client Filters if the filter used requires a Date and the computer’s Apple System Preferences date format is not set correctly.
- Go to the Apple menu and select System Preferences
- Click on Language & Region
- Click on Advance to view Dates. Make sure all the Date formats are set with the 4-digit year. Example: year is formatted for 2016 not 16.
Daily Hours and Payroll Challenges
Challenge: When Processing Payroll, some or all employee's hours are showing up under overtime, and the business doesn’t pay overtime.
Solution: Overtime settings have not been entered properly. Go to Setup > General > Company Info. If you do not pay a Daily overtime, enter 24 in the Overtime Starts: Daily field. If you do not pay a weekly overtime, enter 168 in the Overtime Starts: Weekly field. Click the Save button and close the window.
Challenge: When Processing Payroll, some employees have “Invalid” listed in the Gross Pay column.
Solution: The payroll method assigned to the employee has a scale that is set to Calculate Weekly. This only works if the number of days in the pay period entered is exactly divisible by 7- such as 7, 14, etc. Either change the scale to Calculate by Pay Period or change the starting and ending dates of the pay period to equal divisions of 7.
Reports Challenges
Challenge: When trying to print a report and it looks like it is going to the printer but the printer never starts. No error message appears.
Solution: The print queue has most likely been stopped. To start the print queue, open Finder and click Applications. Select Utilities and look for Print Center or Printer Setup Utility. Double-click to open the application. Double-click on the printer name in the Printer List and click Start Jobs. The printer should start printing.
If not, restart the computer the printer is connected to, restart the printer and, if your printer is connected to a network, restart the hub, switch, router or wireless base station.
Challenge: Inventory labels will not align when trying to print them.
Solution: Most likely the printer driver needs updated. This is not an STX software challenge. Please Check the documentation that came with the printer or find technical support for the printer on the manufacturer’s website.
Challenge: QuickBooks export / import is failing.
Solutions: When using QuickBooks with STX, Tips Left in Drawer cannot be used to record tips on the Payments tab of Client Visit transactions. These tips are not included in the exported file, rendering it out of balance, which will prevent it from being imported into QuickBooks.
If these tips are being deposited, record them as Tips Paid Out, run the tips report to determine the correct amount and edit the journal entry in QuickBooks after it has been imported.
Next, review Null transactions. If Cash in / Out tickets are missing an assigned account selection, STX will not export list.
Lastly, make sure Accounts are not missing “numbers” in their setup. Go to Setup. Click Finance and go to the Accounts tab to be sure all accounts have an appropriate QuickBooks account #’s.
Updating STX Challenges
Challenge: "This version of STX requires version XX (lower number) of the STX Database. The database is currently at version XX (higher number). Please upgrade the application and try again."
Solution: You upgraded the database, but did not install the new STX application. Please refer to the upgrade instructions to install the new STX application and follow all steps precisely. If the challenge persists, contact STX technical support at 800.766.4778.
Challenge: "This version of STX requires version XX (higher number) of the STX Database. The database is currently at version XX (lower number). Please upgrade the database and try again."
Solution: You installed the new STX application, but did not upgrade the database. Please refer to the upgrade instructions to upgrade the database and follow all steps precisely. If the challenge persists, contact STX technical support at 800.766.4778.
iDevice Challenges
Challenge: An iDevice that previously successfully connected now will not connect to the STX database.
Solutions: First power down the iDevice completely and then restart it and try to connect to STX. If the device will still not connect:
- Shut down STX on any workstation computers.
- Quit STX on the Server.
- Go to the Apple menu and select the Restart option.
- After the Server has restarted, start STX on that computer and any workstation computers.
- Open STX on the iDevice.
If the device is still unable to connect:
- Follow Steps 1 – 2 above.
- Go to the Apple menu and select the Shut Down option.
- Power off your internet connection device (router or modem).
- Wait 30 seconds.
- Restart the internet connection device.
- Turn on the Server computer.
- Restart STX on that computer and any workstation computers.
- Open STX on the iDevice.
If you still cannot connect the device, please contact STX Technical Support for additional troubleshooting assistance. 800.766.4778.
Challenge: Unable to pair an iDevice which has never been connected to the STX database.
Solution: Review the complete iDevice setup guide at http://stxsoftware.com/desktop-pdfs and click the document titled STX and iOS Devices.