Printing problems under Windows & Windows 95
This book was originally designed to deal with hardware-based print er problems. But as the PC world has shifted from DOS to Windows (and now to Windows 95), we cannot ignore the setup and configuration of the operating system itself as a source of printing problems (figure 12- 1). It is no longer enough to j ust “fix the printer.” Today’s technicians should also be able to recognize
print quality and performance issues that arise outside of the printer. This chapter provides you with that extra measure of in formation. Before proceeding, you should understand that this chapter focuses on symptoms and solutions. It does not discuss the design of Windows, or the architecture of its printing system; those topics are quite lengthy, and are detailed in many of the fine Windows and Wmdows 95 books currently available.
Windows 3.1x
When working under DOS, printing functions had to be incorpo rated into each application. Each DOS application printed with its own distinctive “look and feel,” and some were better than others. Wmdows designers envisioned a world where printing is a function performed independently of the particular Wmdows applications. This relieves the need to specify printers and ports for each appli cation as you do under DOS; printers and ports need only be se lected once through a single, centralized printing applet (e.g., a Print Manager). By loading specific printer drivers for each printer attached to the PC, it is possible to handle the detailed font and image data typically present under Wmdows. illtimately, central ized Wmdows provides a uniform printing “engine” capable of pro ducing high-quality text and graphics on a vast array of printers, yet it does not require Windows applications to drive the printers directly. For most everyday users, centralized printing is an effec tive and problem-free process. Unfortunately, there are some seri ous limitations and flaws to Windows printing. If you test the printer and find it to be working properly, suspect a Windows problem.
General Windows troubleshooting
Symptom 1 The printer does not work at all. When the printer fails to work at all, you can spend quite a bit of time chasing the wrong leads. Start your examination with the printer itself. Make sure the printer is plugged in and turned on (this might sound silly, but it really happens). Check the cable between the printer and com puter. A loose or faulty printer cable can wreak havoc on your printing. A good sanity check might be to try leaving Windows and printing through a DOS application, such as EDIT or another sim ple word processor. If you can get a DOS application to print, you know the printer, cable, and computer (the hardware) is working together, and the trouble lies in the Wmdows configuration. If a DOS application will not print, suspect a hardware fault. Concentrate your search on the printer’s particular DIP switch, jumper, or front panel control settings, then refer to other troubleshooting tactics outlined in this book. Once you achieve printing through a DOS application, you can concentrate on the Wmdows setup and connection parameters.
Back in the Wmdows environment, access your Print Manager and take a look at the Printer control window. Make sure the correct printer is selected (you might have to install a new printer driver through the Add button) and connected to the proper printer port. If the wrong printer driver or port is active, your printer will probably not work at all. When your new printer comes with its own printer driver, you should install that driver instead of the original Windows equivalent because the driver accompanying the new printer is typically better than the native Windows version. If you are using a serial printer, check the serial parameters through the Settings function in the Connect window. Keep in mind that the Settings selection is only active once a COM port has been cho sen for connection. If everything looks right so far, take a look at the printer Setup window. If the paper size, resolution, or memory setting is invalid, the printer might hang up or fail to print. Double check the installation of any memory or font cartridges in the printer (you should power down the printer before doing this), and make sure the correct memory and cartridge(s) are selected in the Setup window.
Symptom 2 The page prints, but the format is incorrect. Your printer hardware is most likely set up properly, but one or more Windows selections are probably wrong. Begin by considering your particular Windows application. Most applications (e.g., Mi crosoft Publisher) provide a comprehensive set of layout and for mat parameters that direct the formation of the printed page. If the application is setting up the page wrong, the page will cer tainly be printed incorrectly. As a sanity check, try printing through another Wmdows application if possible. If another appli cation produces proper print, the problem is likely in the original application and not in the Print Manager configuration. If, how ever, the trouble persists in another Windows application, the trouble might be in the Print Manager.
If you suspect trouble in the Print Manager, start by checking the printer selection in the Printer control window. If the wrong printer is selected, the erroneous printer driver can upset your printing. Select the correct printer and try printing again. You might have to add the correct printer driver if it is not yet avail able. If your new printer carne with its own printer driver, you should install that driver instead of the original Wmdows equiva lent because the driver accompanying a new printer is typically better than the Wmdows version. Next, check the parameters in the printer Setup window. Paper size, graphics resolution, mem ory setting, and page orientation can all affect the page formatting. A bad setting here can also cause printing problems. If you cannot find an error in the Print Manager, take a look at your printer itself. Refer to the printer’s user manual and check any DIP switches, jumpers, or front panel controls that affect page formatting. If any font cartridges are installed, power down the printer and see that they are all installed correctly.
Symptom 3 Paper advances, but no print appears on the page. Chances are good that communication is taking place properly be tween the printer and computer, but there is a glitch in the Wm dows setup. Begin by checking the paper source specified in the Setup window. An incorrect paper source might allow paper to ad vance from an incorrect source, but no printing can be completed. Next, check the selected printer in the Printer control window. If the wrong printer is currently selected, the printer conunand codes cannot be recognized by the printer (except perhaps for the page feed). Select the correct printer and try printing again. If your printer came with its own printer driver, you should install that driver instead of the original Windows equivalent because the driver accompanying the printer typically provides better perfor mance than the Wmdows version.
Windows printing speed & performance
Windows printing speed is related to a variety of factors including the printer itself (i.e., its capacity in pages per minute), the amount of memory it contains, and the information that must be printed. For example, a full-page graphic image generated at 600 x 600 dpi will take a bit longer to print than a text-only document at 300 x 300 dpi. This part of the chapter addresses problems re lated to general performance issues under Windows 3.lx.
Symptom 1 Printing seems far too slow. Because Wmdows prints everything in graphics mode (text as well as images), printing tends to be inherently slower when compared to text printing un der DOS. However, there are some tactics that you can use to boost printing speed. If you are using the Wmdows Print Manager (or another third-party print manager), try increasing the priority of the print job. Increasing the print priority increases the amount
of time Windows allocates to the job. You might also wish to shut down any wmeeded applications running in the background be fore starting a new print job; this also frees time for Windows to concentrate on the print job.
When printing images and other graphics, Wmdows produces tem porary files, and these files can sometimes be quite large. If your hard drive is heavily fragmented, the printing spool might be de layed by excessive hard drive seeks. Leave Wmdows and try de fragmenting your hard drive. If you are printing to a serial printer, try printing to a parallel printer (if possible). Parallel data trans fers tend to be a bit faster than serial transfers. For additional speed, try printing your documents using only printer fonts; these are the font names denoted with a printer symbol next to them rather than a TT (True’l.YPe) symbol. You might also consider low ering the resolution of your printer. For example, if you are print ing at 600 x 600 resolution, try lowering the resolution to 300 x 300. Finally, make sure that you are using the correct printer driver for your specific printer, and check that the driver is the lat est version. If drivers came bundled with your printer, try using them instead of native Windows drivers because custom or manu facturer’s specific drivers often provide better performance than native Wmdows drivers.
Symptom 2 PostScript graphics appear to print slowly from an LPT port. In some PC configurations and driver combinations, graphics might seem to print unusually slowly. Often, this is not a problem per se, but simply the result of your system setup. However, you can often speed printing by disabling the Compress Bitmaps check box in the printer’s Advanced Options dialog. While this will speed printing, it will increase the amount of time needed for an applica tion to regain control (e.g., the hourglass symbol will remain longer). Also, do not disable the Compress Bitmaps check box if you are printing through a serial port (COMl through COM4). Note that this tactic will only affect graphics printing; it will not af fect the printing speed of text-only documents.
Symptom 3 You see an error message, such as “Offending Com mand: MSTT ####Undefined” when trying to print to a PostScript printer. This is a problem that occurs frequently when the printer runs out of virtual memory. Because Windows transfers fonts to the PostScript printer using an MSTI #### numbering scheme (where #### is the four-digit number), the printer might drop fonts, causing an error when the font is needed in the printing process. Start your correction by checking that the virtual memory setting (in the Advanced Options dialog under the PostScript driver) is appropriate for the amount of virtual memory in the printer. You can also reduce the amount of printer memory used by Wmdows by disabling the Clear Memory Per Page box in the Advanced Options dialog. This might slow printing a bit, but will reduce the demands on printer memory.
Symptom 4 Your bidirectional dot-matrix or ink jet printer is not printing in bidirectional mode under Windows. This is not the fault of Wmdows, the driver, or the printer, but is necessary because moving-carriage printers cannot achieve the precision necessary for high-resolution printing when operating in bidirectional mode, so Wmdows printer drivers are designed to be unidirectional. If you are using an unsupported printer that is set to operate in bidi rectional mode, you might see lines and text appear jagged. Try setting the printer to unidirectional (or “graphics”) mode.
Windows setup & system configuration problems
Automatic installation routines frequently make changes to CON FIG .SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files when new applications are added to the Windows platform. Unfortunately, those routines are not always perfect, and sometimes an unexpected error can result in unusual Wmdows problems. Even editing the startup (.INI) files manually can result in problems if a needed line is deleted or al tered unexpectedly. In addition, drivers might conflict with other drivers (especially video drivers) and hardware in the system. The symptoms below illustrate these effects.
Symptom 1 After installing or upgrading an application, you en counter problems printing from one or more Wmdows applica tions. You (or the installation program) might have accidentally inserted a space in the SET TEMP= line in AUTOEXEC.BAT. The extra space causes a problem when Wmdows attempts to locate the TEMP directory, and prevents temporary printing files from being produced; as a result, you cannot print. The same problem can occur when you forget to include a backslash character in the TEMP directory path (e.g., SET TEMP=C:TEMP). To correct this problem, use a text editor to edit your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. Lo cate the SET TEMP= line and be sure that it is entered correctly, and see that there are no extra spaces added after the line. After you make your changes, save the corrected AUTOEXEC.BAT file and restart the system so that those changes can take effect.
Symptom 2 Some of the text (usually on a dot-matrix printer) is cut off or missing in the printout. Often, this problem is related to an incompatibility between the video board (e.g., an ATI Mach 32 board) and the printer driver. Because most new Gateway 2000 systems are shipped with ATI video cards and drivers, there is a higher probability of this problem occurring on Gateway systems. You might try an alternate or generic printer driver. If this is not acceptable, reducing the video mode to VGA or SVGA through the Windows Setup can alleviate this problem, at least temporarily. Ink jet and laser jet printers are typically free of this problem.
Symptom 3 Fine lines (under pt) appear randomly across the printed page. This occurs primarily with older HP LaserJet print ers, and is often the result of a conflict between the printer driver and the Orchid video driver (such as for the Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 video board). Orchid has addressed these problems with an upgraded video BIOS and video driver. Your best course is to con tact the video board manufacturer for upgrade information.
Symptom 4 The printing is garbled or missing. Printing is taking place, but it is distorted or missing in areas. Begin by inspecting the printer cable. Make sure the cable is intact and connected properly. You can also try turning the printer off for a few moments to clear its internal memory (also remember to delete any jobs outstanding in the Print Manager). Restart the printer and try printing again. Open the printer control window and check the se lected printer. An incorrect printer driver can result in all types of garbled or intermittent printing. Select the proper printer (add a printer if necessary) and try printing again. If your printer came with its own printer driver, you should install that driver instead of the original Wmdows equivalent because the driver accompanying the printer is typically superior to the native Windows version.
If you are using a serial printer, there might be a serious problem with your handshaking (the way the flow of information is con trolled between computer and printer). There are two types of handshaking: XON/XOFF (or software handshaking), and CTSIRTS (or hardware handshaking). If handshaking is inoperative, a high baud rate can “spill” data that overflows the printer’s buffer. Try reducing the baud rate to a slow crawl of about 300 and try print ing again. If print is correct or greatly improved at a low baud rate, check the flow control (perhaps try a known-good cable). Make sure the printer’s flow control method matches the Windows Pro gram Manager settings.
Symptom 5 Only part of the page is printed correctly. The remain der of the page is either garbled or missing. Turn your attention di rectly to the printer Setup window. Check the paper size and page orientation settings. Faulty information there can turn your print ing in strange directions that confuse your desired format. Once page size and orientation are set correctly, consider your printer memory. Make sure the memory selection is set properly for your particular printer. Ifmemory is set properly but part of the printed image is still being lost, there simply might not be enough memory to hold the entire image (also known as a buffer oveiflow). Refer to your application and try condensing or resizing the print to a smaller area of the page. You can also try adding memory to the printer (be sure to update the memory setting in the Setup win dow). Finally, you might consider reducing the printer’s resolution.
Issues with third-party products
The Windows Print Manager is adequate for many general-pur pose applications, but it has its limitations. Third-party applica tions have attempted to provide superior print management tools that are typically more flexible and powerful than Print Manager, but they also suffer from incompatibilities under some circwn stances. The following section outlines some printer issues you might encounter when using third-party print manager products.
Symptom 1 After upgrading LaserMaster’s WinPrint 1.0 to Wm Print 1.5, you receive an error message, such as “illegal Function Call.” The WinPrint utility is attempting to reference an earlier WmPrint font that might not be available. Unfortunately, you will need to remove the fonts from your system, then reinstall Wm Print. Exit Wmdows and reboot the computer. Restart Wmdows and open the WmPrint program group. Under the program group, you will see the Fontman icon. Select Fontman, choose all in stalled fonts, then select Remove. This will remove the WmPrint fonts from your system. If you see fonts remaining, choose Verify, then select NO when asked if you want to use those fonts under WrnPrinter. Next, choose YES when asked if you want to delete references to these fonts for WmPrint and WmSpool. Exit Wm dows and then restart it. When Wmdows is running again, restart the WinPrint installation program. Once the reinstallation is com plete, you can add fonts in the WmPrint Font Manager.
Symptom 2 The PC hangs when using SuperPrint 2.0 under Win dows 3.1. There are basically two variations of this problem. First, the system might hang when SuperPrint 2.0 is installed. Second, you cannot print to an HP LaserJet printer once SuperPrint 2.0 is installed. In both cases, the reason for this trouble is that the Zeno graphics SuperPrint product requires version 2.2 in order to be fully compatible with Windows 3.1. Your best course is to contact Zenographics for an upgrade. If you must go ahead and install the older version, do not perform a default setup. Of course, if Super Print is already installed and there is difficulty printing to an HP LaserJet, disable the SuperQue (print spooler) under SuperPrint.
Symptom 3 When using the LaserMaster WinSpool or WinJet ac celerators with a PostScript printer, you see an error message such as “This Postscript job is not supported by WinSpool.” This is a problem with the PostScript driver (versions 3.52 and 3.53). Try accepting the error message and continuing; in many cases, the printing will still occur properly. If problems persist, try rein stalling the LaserMaster driver on LPT2, which will also enable printing from LPTl. If LaserMaster is allowed to install on LPT1 during its default installation, there might be a conflict. As a more long-term fix, you should consider trying version 3.5 or 3.51 of the LaserMaster PostScript driver.
Symptom 4 When you switch from a LaserMaster WinJet 300 to a WinJet 800, you see an error message, such as “WmPrint Manager Printer Error: VPD cannot register frame buffer.” This might then be followed by other system error messages. When you switch from a LaserMaster WinJet 300 to the WinJet 800, you need to edit the SYSTEM.INI file. If you fail to do this, errors will occm. When a WinJet 300 is installed, you will need to add the follov.ing lines to the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI:
device=LMLPV.386 ;WinPrint device=LMCAP.386 ;WinPrint device=LMMI.386 :WinPrint
When you install a WmJet 300 over a WinJet 800, you must remove the following line from the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI such as:
device=LMLPV .386 ;WinPrint
;device=LMHAROLD .386 ;WinPrint device=LMCAP .386 ;WinPri nt device=LMMI.386 :WinPrint
The WinJet 800 installation adds the following lines to the [386Enh] section of the SYSTEM.IN I file:
device=LMHAROLD.386 ;WinPrint device=LMCAP .386 ;WinPrint device=LMMI.386 ;WinPrint
When you install a WmJet 800 over a WinJet 300, you must remove the following line from the [386Enh] section of SYSTEM.INI such as:
;deviceaLMLPV.386 ;Wi nPrint device-LMHAROLD .386 ;WinPrint device-LMCAP .386 ;WinPrint deviceaLMMI.386 ;WinPrint
Symptom 5 The printer does not use its resident font cartridge(s) or soft font(s). When the printer uses one or more font cartridges, turn off the printer and reseat all cartridges to be sure they are in stalled correctly. Restart the printer and try printing again. If the problem persists, check the printer Setup window and be sure that all approp1iate font cartridges are selected. Wmdows 3.1can sup port a maximum of two cartridge listings. If the font cartridge you are using is not shown in the cartridge selector list, you will prob ably have to identify the cartridge’s fonts through the soft font in staller. If you are using a new font cartridge that was developed after the printer driver was written, you might need a .PCM (printer cartridge met1ics) file to tell Windows how to handle those “new” fonts. Install the .PCM file included with the font car tridge the same way you would install a soft font.
For soft fonts, make sure the desired fonts are listed in the HP Font Installer window. Reset the printer and try reloading the soft fonts to the printer. Printer memory must hold the soft fonts, so a printer with limited memory might run out of memory. Try loading only one or two soft fonts and attempt printing again. If a limited soft font download works, you might want to expand the printer’s memory capacity.
Windows & printer drivers
Windows is constantly printing in the graphics mode, so proper printing of text and images relies on printer drivers. Printing per formance is tied to using the right driver with the right printer. While there are generic drivers available under Windows that will often work to support unusual or specialized printers, such drivers are typically limited in resolutions and features; even though you might get the printer to “work,” it probably will not work properly. As a consequence, you should always match the printer and its lat est driver. The following symptoms address problems often re lated to printer drivers.
Symptom 1 The Generictrext -Only printer driver does not use the multiple paper trays and various paper sizes of a printer. This is a direct limitation of the print er driver. The “generic” printer driver was designed to support a wide variety of different printers, but in order to be compatible across a wide range of printers, it is neces sary to abandon particular featmes that one printer might have but another might not. If you cannot fmc! a specific printer driver on the Windows installation disks, contact the printer manufac tmer to obtain the latest copy of the Windows printer driver(s). VIrtually all laser and ink jet printer manufacturers are now bundling Windows drivers with the printer. The alternative is to continue using the generic driver without the benefit of your printer’s spe cial featmes.
Symptom 2 You see an error message, such as “Control Panel can not perform the current operation because <filename> is not a valid plinter-driver file.” This error can often occm when choosing Setup from the Printers dialog under the Control Panel. Usually, there are three causes for this error: the EXPAND.EXE or LZEX PAND .DLL files are corrupted or from a different version of Win dows; the printer driver is invalid or corrupted; or you are installing a Windows 3.11printer dliver under Windows 3.1. When an invalid printer driver is specified, you might see the Print command of most Windows applications dimmed (grayed out).
Return to MS-DOS . Check the file dates on EXPAND .EXE and LZ
EXPAND.DLL. Verify that their file dates are consistent with other
Windows or WFWG files on yom system. If not, you should manu ally expand the proper versions of these flies from installation disks into their appropriate directories. A typical command to copy EXPAND.EXE and reinstall the LZEXPAND.DLL file from the installation disk might be:
copy a:\expand .exe c:\windows\expand.exe
then
expand a :\lzexpand .dl_ c:\ indows\system\lzexpand .dll
Now that you have the correct versions of EXPAND.EXE and LZ EXPAND.DLL on the system, rename the suspect piinter driver file(s), and check the path statement in AUTOEXEC.BAT to be sme that the Windows directory is the first directory in the path. Restart Wmdows, then reinstall the suspect printer drivers by choosing the Printers icon from the Control Panel. You can then select the Add button, and Install the correct clliver(s) again. You could also run the Print Manager, then choose Piinter Setup, Add, then Install. Finally, if you have been installing Wmdows 3.11 drivers in Wmdows 3.1, install the proper drivers for the version ofWmdows you are us ing, or download the driver from the Microsoft Download Service (MSDL) at (206) 936-6735.
Symptom 3 When printing on an ink jet printer (e.g., the HP Desk Jet 500), you see garbage lines, blocks, and unwanted characters when printing using TrueType fonts. Chances are that the printer driver being used with the ink jet printer is outdated or corrupt. Obtain the latest version of the Windows driver from Microsoft or the printer manufacturer. Until a new driver is installed, try re ducing the printer’s resolution. In some cases, the unwanted print ing will go away (at the expense of resolution).
Symptom 4 When printing on a dot-matrix printer (e.g., a Pana sonic KX-P1124 or KX-P2123), you see garbled, missing, or mis aligned text. Either the current printer driver is missing or corrupt, or the driver is incompatible with the printer’s internal ROM. Start by checking the printer driver to see that the latest version is in stalled correctly. If problems persist, consider upgrading the printer’s internal ROM. Note that this symptom typically occurs only with older dot-matrix printers, and a new ROM is often not available for obsolete or discontinued products. When this situa tion develops, try an alternate compatible or generic printer driver.
Symptom 5 The printer always prints in the highest quality mode available, even though a “draft” quality mode has been selected. This is typically due to an error or oversight in the printer driver, es pecially prevalent in older drivers for dot-matrix and inkjet printers. The preferred method of correcting this problem is to update the printer drivers with newer versions, or choose an alternate compat ible or generic printer driver that does provide draft-mode printing.
Symptom 6 When printing a scaled TIFF image to an HP LaserJet III or IV, a vertical line prints on the left side of the image. The line might also appear on the right side of the image, or in a corner. This is due to problems with some HP printer drivers (such as HP PCL5A.DRV). If you are encountering this problem printing to an HP LaserJet III, obtain the newest printer driver from Microsoft. If you are encountering the problem with an HP LaserJet IV, get the latest driver from HP. Until a new driver can be obtained, try scal ing the image to a different size. The problem seems to occur only at particular horiz/vert size ratios, so altering this ratio even slightly might circumvent the problem.
Symptom 7 When using a color ink jet printer, the black output ap pears somewhat green. This problem appears typically in HP ink jet printers, such as the HP 500C. When using the color ink car tridge with the print mode set to All Color, only the color cartridge is used to print. As a result, dark colors, such as black, are actually made up of yellow, magenta, and cyan. It is the printer driver that decides how to mix the colors, but an incorrectly tested printer driver might allow less-than-ideal mixing, resulting in a slightly “greenish” black. The way to correct this problem is to set the print mode to Black and Color rather than All Color. You can make this adjustment under the Control Panel function by selecting the Printer icon, choosing Setup, then changing the print mode. This feature will cause the ink cartridge to use true black ink when printing blacks. In all cases, you should be sure that you are using the latest driver for your ink jet printer.
Symptom 8 You encounter GPF errors when attempting to print very small bitmap images. This problem occurs most frequently with HP LaserJet II printers operating at low resolutions (e.g., 75 dpi), but it might occur on any EP printer using the UNIDRV.DLL driver. This is typically the result of a problem in older versions of the Microsoft Universal Printer driver UNIDRV.DLL. Your best course here is to update UNIDRV.DLL by downloading a new version from the Microsoft Windows Driver Library (WDL) on CompuServe.
Windows 95 troubleshooting
As with earlier versions of Windows, the Windows 95 platform pro vides all of the printing resources needed by Windows applica tions. But the Windows 95 printing system makes some significant advances over older printing systems, incorporating a suite of new (and badly needed features). A 32-bit printing engine and en hanced parallel port support promise to produce smoother print ing, while returning control to the application sooner. Image color matching capabilities allow the screen image colors to better match the colors generated by a color printer. Usability features such as point-and-print support, deferred printing, and print ser vices for NetWare try to streamline the printing process. En hanced font support allows you to install an unlimited number of fonts, and use up to 100 fonts in a document.
Still, with all of these enhancements, printing under Wmdows 95 is not always as foolproof as users and technicians like to believe. Printer installation/driver problems, network problems, and general printer errors can all occur. This part of the chapter is in tended to illustrate some of the troubleshooting techniques used to identify and isolate printing problems, then explain the solu tions for a selection of typical Windows 95 printing faults. First, there are some tactics you can use to help isolate problems.
The safe mode
Windows 95 can crash if an incorrect or corrupt driver is selected, or if there is a conflict between two or more system drivers. There might also be problems if Windows 95 fails to detect the correct video board in the PC. The symptoms of such a fault might range from poor or erratic video performance to complete system failures. Under Windows 3.lx, you would probably address such problems by trying the PC in “standard VGA mode” (640 x 480 x 16), but this tactic required you to switch drivers in Wmdows Setup.
Windows 95 provides you with a “safe mode” option that you can select during start-up. Restart the computer. When you see “Start ing Windows 95” displayed on the screen, press the F8 key. Choose the Safe Mode startup option to run the PC in VGA mode. If your problem disappears in VGA mode, you can safely suspect that the video driver is corrupt, outdated, incorrect, or conflicting with an other driver.
Check & correct the printer driver
In order for the printer to run efficiently, a properly written 32-bit printer driver must be loaded under Windows 95. If the driver is outdated, incorrect, or “buggy,” the printer will not run correctly (if at all). You can check your printer driver by double-clicking on the My Computer icon, then double-click on the Printers icon. You can then add a printer or select one of your currently installed printers. Right-click on the desired printer, then click on Properties. This will bring up the printer properties dialog. Select the Details “page.”
The controls on this page allow you to adjust port settings, drivers, time-outs, and spool settings. Next, select the Paper “page,” and click on the About button. This will tell you which driver version is in use. If this is not the latest version, try a newer driver.
Printing directly to the printer port
Often, it can be difficult to tell whether the source of trouble is in printer hardware or system software. Printing directly to the printer port is one way to verify the printer hardware without the clutter of Windows 95 or its applications. Exit Wmdows 95 to the DOS prompt, and use the following command to print a file:
copy ‘lb : filenarne
This command takes the binary file filename, and sends that file directly to the selected port. If the printer responds and prints the file correctly, the printer’s hardware is working fine, and your trou ble is in Windows 95 or its application(s). If the printer does not run under DOS, the printer, the PC, or the communication cable might be defective.
Controlling bidirectional support
Windows 95 is designed to support EPP printer ports conforming to the IEEE 1284 standard. However, not all PCs, printers, and parallel cable assemblies are designed to accommodate the added demands of IEEE 1284, and printing problems can result. You can disable bidirectional support in the Spool Settings dialog. You can reach the Spool Settings dialog by clicking the Spool Settings but ton in the Details page you saw previously. If problems occur with bidirectional printing on, then disappear once bidirectional con trol is turned off, you should leave bidirectional printing off until you can arrange more compatible hardware.
Clearing spooler files
There are some instances when errors in the print spool can cause print faults. When this occurs, the spool will not always clear, caus ing the error to persist even when Windows 95 is restarted. Fortu nately, it is not too difficult to clear the spool files. Leave Windows 95 to MS-DOS, and switch to the \SYSYEM\SPOOL\PRINTERS di rectory, then delete all .SPL files. Next, switch to the \TEMP di rectory and erase any .TMP files. You should then shut down and restart the computer to finish cleaning up the .SPL files.
Windows 95 symptoms
Symptom 1 You cannot print to a printer (local or network). Start with the basics. Check to see that your printer is plugged in and turned on. It might sound silly, but this is a frequent oversight. Also see that the printer’s communication cable is secure between the printer and host PC. Check the printer for adequate paper, and address any error messages that might be present. If the printer is on, connected, and on-line, but no printing is taking place, tumthe printer off and wait about 10 seconds before turning it on again. This clears the printer’s internal buffer.
If problems persist, try printing to a file (rather than to the printer). Then go to the MS-DOS prompt and print the file directly to the printer port as explained above. If this works, the problem is in the Windows 95 setup. If this does not work, you might have a fault in the printer cable or communication circuitry at the printer or PC.
Symptom 2 You cannot print due to a printer driver problem. Printer drivers are the key to successful printer operation. If the wrong driver is installed (or if the correct driver is outdated or cor rupt), the printer will simply not work properly (if at all). Under Windows 95, printer driver problems are most significant when an older 16-bit driver (e.g., from Wrndows 3.1x) must be used under Wrndows 95 because no 32-bit driver exists. While this condition should not exist for long, this “mismatch” can often cause the printer to freeze or produce irregular print. Errors will also occur if the incorrect 32-bit driver is selected for a printer. Check the printer driver and see that it is a current 32-bit driver. If not, install an appropriate driver (you might need to download an updated driver from the printer manufacturer’s BBS or on-line forum). If problems persist, try reinstalling the suspect driver.
Symptom 3 You cannot print due to an application problem. Start by checking the setup and configuration of your printing application.
Make sure that the desired printer is selected, along with the cor rect tray, page orientation, resolution, and other printing parame ters. If problems persist, try saving and closing other applications that might be open; this means you will be printing from the only running application. If the problem disappears, you might have a conflict between one or more applications under Windows 95. Try restarting each of the closed applications individually, and try print ing after each application is started. The point at which problems return will reveal the conflict. If isolating the application does not correct the problem, try printing from a different application. When you are able to print successfully from a different application, your original application might be corrupt or contain a software bug. You might try reinstalling the suspect application, or contact the appli cation’s manufacturer for a work-around or software patch.
Symptom 4 You cannot print due to a print spooler problem. This problem occurs fairly infrequently, and might not be intuitively ob vious from any outward symptoms. Try shutting down the print spooler (as described above) and print directly to the printer port. If the problem disappears, you might have a printer spooler problem.
Use SCANDISK to examine your disk space and integrity. Repair any disk problems that you might encounter, then try restoring the print spooler. If problems persist, switch “EMF spooling” to “RAW spool ing” in the Spool Settings dialog, or leave spooling disabled.
Symptom 5 You cannot print with a bidirectional printer setup. Re cent PC designs and multi-I/O boards make use of the IEEE 1284- compliant advanced parallel ports (also known as ECP or EPP ports). When faced with printing problems, especially for a newly installed printer, try disabling bidirectional support. If the problem disappears, the PC’s parallel port might not be IEEE 1284-com patible, or your printer cable might not support IEEE 1284 com munication. Inthat case, you will need to leave bidirectional printing disabled until you have the hardware in place to support advanced printing.
Symptom 6 Graphic images are garbled or otherwise printed incor rectly. There are many reasons why a printer might not receive a graphic image correctly. First, check the printer configuration in the printing application to be sure that the tray, orientation, reso lution, and other image-related parameters are set properly. Next, check the printer to see that it has enough memory to support the graphic image size. Large images can require substantial amounts of memory. Ifyou are attempting to print a large document, or deal with a large number of documents over a network, try printing shorter or fewer jobs; the spooler may be overloaded. You might also try shutting the spooler off. Finally, start the computer in its “safe mode” and try printing again. If the problem disappears, there might be a printer driver problem or conflict that you will have to identify.
Symptom 7 Only partial pages are printed. There are several rea sons why a printer might not receive a complete page correctly. Setup issues should always be suspected first. Check the printer configuration in the printing application to be sure that the tray, orientation, resolution, and other image-related parameters are set properly. Also see if the printer has enough memory to support the printed image size; complex page layouts typically require substantial amounts of memory, and incomplete pages are often the result of high complexity in the printed page. Try simplifying the page layout or content (i.e., remove some objects). If the printed page is missing certain text styles, check that the corre sponding font (or a suitable substitute) is installed. If problems persist, enable TrueType fonts as graphics.
Symptom 8 Printing is noticeably slower than normal. Slow print ing under Wmdows 95 is typically the result of poor hardware per formance, or a driver conflict. Begin by checking your available disk space. Printing can be very demanding of disk space for tem porary files, so a drive nearing maximum capacity might not have enough space to create the needed temporary flies. Ifyour drive is down to a few MB, you should free additional space by backing up and eliminating unneeded files. Another printing speed factor is drive fragmentation. Excessive fragmentation will make the drive work much harder when reading and writing files, so printing from highly fragmented files will be correspondingly slower. Run a disk defragmenter to examine and correct file fragmentation on the drive. Suspect your system resources, especially if you are running several complex applications simultaneously. Next, verify that print spooling is enabled, and that EMF (Enhanced Metafile) spooling support is selected. Also check to see that the current and correct printer driver is selected for your printer. If problems persist to this point, try starting the system in its “safe mode,” then try print ing again. If this corrects the problem, there might be an applica tion or driver conflict that you will need to isolate.
Symptom 9 The computer stalls during the printing process. This can sometimes occur if there is insufficient disk space to develop adequate temporary files. Check the amount of free disk space,and free additional space if necessary. If disk space is adequate, clear the spool files and try printing again. If problems persist, you probably have a conflict in your Wmdows 95 drivers. Start Wm dows 95 in its “safe mode.” When printing runs correctly, there might be a conflict between the video driver and the printer driver. Check and reinstall the video driver, or check and reinstall the printer driver. Even if you choose not to reinstall the drivers, check that they are all up to date.