Tue Oct 28 2025

Bar scanner function not working

Hi all,

When pressing the F1 key to select "patient data" on the MAC 5500, there is this quick flash to scan the patient visit/ID number to add them to the ekg cart, then it switches to manual entry right away. Kept pressing that F1 button to use the scan function, but it will switch to manual entry.

What's causing the issue? Software upgrade? Internal board malfunctioning? Settings?

I've double checked the settings to another working ekg and all settings matched. Problem still there. Tried hard reboot of device. Nothing. Replaced the scanner and cable to a known working one. Same issue.

Can't get in contact with GE tech support. Anyone has had this problem?

Equipment: GE MAC 5500 EKG Cart

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Jlinton

Mon Nov 03 2025Reply from Jlinton

Seen that before — it’s not the scanner or cable. The MAC 5500 sometimes loses its barcode port mapping in software. When you hit F1, it tries the scan input, fails to detect it, and falls back to manual entry.

Try this:

Go into Service Mode ? Configuration ? Peripheral Setup and make sure the barcode scanner is enabled and set to the correct COM port (usually COM2).
Save and reboot.
If it still flips to manual, do a software reload — the peripheral driver files can get corrupted.

It’s almost never a board issue unless the serial interface itself is dead

James Linton, MiM, PmP, Cmbb, AAMIF
Biomedical Engineering Technology

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