How to troubleshoot time clock connectivity issues

How to troubleshoot time clock connectivity issues

If you’re experiencing connectivity issues with your physical time clock, follow the instructions below.
This article only covers clocks that are physically connected to the network via an ethernet cable. If your clock is wirelessly connected, contact our support team for assistance.
All punch clocks communicate with the Rise Clock Data Manager Service (CDM) that acts as an intermediary between the punch clocks and Rise STT. This term is explained here since it will be used throughout this document.

Clock models

We offer two time clock models, which will be referred to as Model 1 and Model 2. Both models look similar and are functionally equivalent for STT purposes, but the interface display screens on the clock look a bit different between the two models. Both clock models have the same physical keypad.

The model of the clock can be determined by looking at the clock's default home screen (displayed when the clock is not in active use).

Model 1

A Model 1 clock should have a home screen similar to the following.
Note that Model 1 clocks may cycle through several home screen displays, so your clock may look slightly different.

Model 2

A Model 2 clock should have a home screen similar to the following.


Verifying clock connectivity status

First, check the connectivity status reported by the clock’s display screen.

Model 1

If the internet connectivity icon in the upper right corner of the clock screen has a red X overlaid on it, the clock is not currently able to communicate with the CDM as expected. Unfortunately, Model 1 clocks only provide a single status icon for this purpose. The red X overlay will indicate that there is some issue with the clock’s connectivity, but doesn’t help identify what the source of the issue might be. To identify the source of the issue, follow the steps in the Verifying the network drop section.

Model 2

If the network detection icon has a red X overlaid on it, this indicates that the clock is not currently able to detect the local network. This could suggest that the network drop that the clock is plugged into may be inactive or that something in the network is blocking connection attempts from that network drop. To identify the source of the issue, follow the steps in the Verifying the network drop section.



If the internet connectivity icon has a red X overlaid on it, this indicates that the clock is not currently able to communicate with the CDM as expected. If the network detection icon displays normally but the internet connectivity icon shows as not connected, then the network drop is likely OK. Skip to the Verifying access to Rise CDM section.


Rebooting the clock

If there's any visual indication of a connection issue (as per the previous step), rebooting the clock is a good first step. Rebooting the clock can be done in two different ways:
  1. Unplug the clock (if the clock is not hard-wired into the wall).
  2. Unplug the clock’s power cord (either from the wall outlet or from the clock.
The clock should shut off instantly. Plug the power cord back in after to turn the clock back on, and hold the power button down.



After about half a second, a 3 second countdown should start. Continue holding the button while the countdown is performed. After the countdown has completed, the screen display should change and then a shutdown sound should play. Release the power button after the display screen shuts off, and then press the power button again to turn the clock back on.

Right after the clock starts to power up, the green fingerprint scanner light should turn on right away to indicate that the clock has power. Wait 3 to 5 minutes for the clock to fully power up and attempt to restore connectivity. If the clock continues to show any visual indications of connection issues, then jump ahead to the Verifying the network drop section.

If the clock doesn’t show any visual indication of a connectivity issue but other observations indicate possible concerns (such as expected punches not showing up in STT), then further troubleshooting may still be needed; continue on to the Verifying the network drop section. If the reboot was performed in order to prompt the clock to send missing punches, then we recommend to wait an additional 3 to 5 minutes for those punches to be processed before moving on to the next step.

Verifying the network drop

For this step, you'll need a laptop with an ethernet port.
Before you start testing, you'll need to disable Wi-Fi on the laptop so that it will not connect to the network wirelessly. Once you've turned the laptop's Wi-Fi off, unplug the network cable from the clock and plug it into the laptop's ethernet port. Wait a minute or so for the laptop to connect to the network, then try opening some websites in your browser.

If you're unable to connect to the internet via ethernet using your laptop, the network drop is inactive or otherwise disconnected from the internet. Contact your organization's IT department to have them resolve the issue with the network drop before proceeding further.

If you're able to successfully connect to the internet via ethernet using the laptop, then leave the laptop plugged in and proceed to the next step.

Verifying access to Rise CDM

With the laptop still plugged into the network drop, open the laptop’s web browser and navigate to the following URL: https://clock02.bluecanvasgroup.com/test.html.
The URL should be typed in all lowercase (as above), since some parts of the URL are case-sensitive.
If you're unable to open the test page, this indicates that something in your network may be blocking traffic to the Rise CDM. Contact your organization's IT department to have them resolve the issue before proceeding further.

If the URL was loaded successfully, then the page should simply display one line of text, as below:


We recommend refreshing the page after the initial load to confirm that the browser is actively loading the page (rather than displaying a cached copy)
If the test was successful, then unplug the laptop from the network drop and plug the clock back in to the network drop with the ethernet cable. Wait 3 to 5 minutes for the clock to detect the network again and attempt to reconnect, then proceed to the next step.

Logging into the clock admin interface

This step requires a user with clock admin access. If the clock admin user is not available, then clock admin user credentials will need to be looked up for the clock in Payroll. Contact our support team for details on how to get clock admin user credentials.
To log into the clock admin interface, you'll need a Clock user ID and Clock security code. The steps for logging into the admin interface for each clock model are as follows:

Model 1

Press Enter to show the punch screen, then press Enter again to show the Admin Affirm 1 prompt screen.



Use the number keys to enter the Clock user ID, then press Enter.



Use the number keys to enter the Clock security code, then press Enter.


Model 2

Press Enter to show the Please verify prompt screen.



Use the number keys to enter the Clock user ID, then press Enter.



Use the Up and Down keys to select Password, then hit Enter.



On the Verify Password screen, use the number keys to enter the Clock security code, then hit Enter.



As a security feature, the admin interface will close if the clock is left untouched for a period of several seconds. If this happens (during this step or any of the following steps), then the admin interface will need to be reopened using the steps above.

Checking the clock’s assigned IP address

Once you're logged into the clock’s admin interface as described above, you can check the clock’s assigned IP address using the following steps:

Model 1

Press the Right arrow once to select the Comm. icon, then press Enter. The Network icon should be selected by default.



Press Enter to open the Network screen.



The clock’s assigned IP address will be displayed in the IP Address field. Make a note of this IP address for the next step.
If the clock is using the DHCP network option, then the IP address will be grayed out and harder to read as a result.

Model 2

Press the Right key twice to select the COMM. icon, then press Enter. The Ethernet menu item should be selected by default.



The clock’s assigned IP address will be displayed in the IP Address field. Make a note of this IP address for the next step.
Note that the assigned IP address displayed by the clock will represent the last IP address that was previously assigned to the clock and to which the clock responded. If the clock has lost connectivity or if a network change has occurred, then it’s possible that the displayed IP address may no longer be valid.
If the clock shows an invalid IP address like 0.0.0.0 or no IP address at all, then the clock has not been successfully assigned an IP address by the network. Proceed to the next step.

Verifying the clock’s assigned IP address

Using the same laptop you used to verify the network drop, connect to the internet and confirm that the local network that the laptop is connected to is the same network that the clock is connected to. In most offices, it is likely that both the laptop and the clock are both connected to the same network, but this should be double-checked before proceeding further with this step. Contact your IT department to verify this if necessary. 

To verify the clock's assigned IP address, you'll be using the laptop to send a “ping" command to the clock. If the clock is correctly connected to the network, then it will respond to ping commands sent to it. Follow these instructions to ping on Windows:

1. Press and hold the Windows ⊞ key followed by the R key to open the Run window

2. Type “cmd" and press enter.

3. Type in the following command, where [IP address] represents the clock’s IP address noted in the previous step: ping [IP address] (e.g. : ping 192.168.100.234)

4. Hit Enter to run the command and wait for the results.

If the command returns results similar to the following then this indicates that the clock is not correctly responding to its assigned IP address:
Pinging 192.168.100.234 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.100.105: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.100.105: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.100.105: Destination host unreachable.
Reply from 192.168.100.105: Destination host unreachable.
Ping statistics for 192.168.100.234:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss)

If the command returns results similar to the following, though, then this should indicate that the clock is responding normally to its assigned IP address:
Pinging 192.168.100.234 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.100.234: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.100.234: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.100.234: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.100.234: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=64
Ping statistics for 192.168.100.234:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 2ms, Maximum = 15ms, Average = 8ms
If the ping failed, then this indicates that the clock’s assigned IP address is invalid and needs to be refreshed. Follow the instructions in the next section.

If the ping was successful, however, then the clock should be successfully connected to the local network and able to communicate with the Rise CDM.

Refreshing the clock’s assigned IP address

Log into the clock’s admin interface by following the instructions in the Logging into the clock admin interface section above, then refresh the clock’s assigned IP address by disabling and re-enabling the DHCP network option. Instructions for each clock model are as follows:

Model 1

Open the Comm. screen (as described earlier in the Checking the clock’s assigned IP address section), then press Enter to open the Network screen.



The DHCP field should be selected by default. Press the Right key to change the DHCP field value from ON to OFF. All of the fields below will change from greyed-out/disabled to active/enabled. Press Enter to apply the change.



The clock should show the following message: Changes Saved Successfully! Press Enter key to dismiss the message and return to the Comm. screen.



The Network icon should be selected by default. Press the Enter key to open the Network screen.



The field should be selected by default and show the value OFF. Press the Right key to change the DHCP field value from OFF to ON.



The DHCP field will initially show an empty value while the clock is attempting to connect to the network and fetch an new IP address. Depending on the local network, this could take 1 to 2 minutes to process; please wait while the clock attempts to fetch a new IP address.

If the clock fails to refresh the IP address, this indicates that there is some network issue preventing the clock from being assigned a new IP address. Contact your organization's IT department to have them diagnose and resolve the issue before proceeding further with this guide.

If the clock succeeds in refreshing the IP address, then the DHCP field value should now show as ON again. The fields below should also be greyed-out/disabled as before. Take note of the value now displayed in the IP Address field, and press the Enter button to apply the changes.


The clock should show the following message: Changes Saved Successfully! Press Enter to dismiss the message and return to the Comm. screen.

Model 2

Open the Comm. screen (as described earlier in the Checking the clock’s assigned IP address section), then press Enter to open the Ethernet screen.


Press the Down key 5 times to select the DHCP field, then press Enter to change the DHCP field value from ON to OFF.


Press Enter again to change the DHCP field value back from OFF to ON.


A spinner icon will be shown while the clock attempts to connect to the network and fetch a new IP address. Depending on the local network, this could take 1 to 2 minutes to process; please wait while the clock attempts to fetch a new IP address.

If the clock fails to refresh the IP address, this indicates that there is some network issue preventing the clock from being assigned a new IP address. Contact your organization's IT department to have them diagnose and resolve the issue before proceeding further with this guide.

If the clock succeeds in refreshing the IP address, then the DHCP field value should now show as ON again. Take note of the value now displayed in the IP Address field, then press the Escape button to close the Ethernet screen and return to the COMM. screen.



If the clock’s IP address was refreshed successfully, then follow the below steps:
  1. Press the Escape button enough times to close the Admin interface and return to the default home screen (or wait a few seconds for the clock to do this automatically).
  1. Wait 3 to 5 minutes for the clock to attempt to reconnect to the network and try to reestablish communication with the CDM.
  1. Repeat the steps in the Verifying the clock’s assigned IP address section to confirm whether the clock is responding to its new IP address.
  1. Repeat the steps in the Verifying clock connectivity status section to check whether the clock now shows as connected.
  1. Repeat the steps in the Rebooting the clock section to reboot the clock and prompt it to resend any missing punches that were not previously transmitted.
As before, wait for 3 to 5 minutes for the clock to power up fully and reestablish the connection with the CDM. Allow another 3 to 5 minutes after that for the clock to start pushing through punches through the CDM into STT.

If the above steps don't resolve the issue, file a ticket with our support team.

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