Printing Problems Mega Fax

This is our fax concerning printing problems when the first one does not work. If it is too much for you, we can break up the process. Give me as much detailed information as possible, and I will try to point you to the steps below that seem most likely to fit your specific situation. For example, tell me what program you are printing from, what you are printing, what printer you using, how much ram does your printer have, how it is connected to your computer, what are the details of the error message you are getting, do you have problems printing anything else from any other application, etc.

Printing Problems

1. Reboot and Run Scandisk:

a) Windows 95¾Go to Start—Programs—Accessories—System Tools—Scandisk.

i) Choose the correct drive (normally the C: drive) and use a “Standard” type of test.

ii) Have it “Automatically fix errors”.

2. In Windows Explorer (Start-Programs-Windows Explorer) delete temporary files

a) Double click the [C:] drive on the left

i) Double click the TRAPRIV directory on the left.

ii) Delete any .ssv , .sav, .jpg, .bmp, or .wmf files on the right in TRAPRIV.

b) Double click on the C drive

i) Scroll down and double click the Windows directory

ii) Left click on the TEMP directory

iii) Click ctrl+A

iv) Delete everything in the TEMP directory

c) Click F3

i) Look In: C drive

(1) Named: Type *.tmp

(2) Click Find Now

(3) Left click on any files found and delete them

ii) Named: Type ~*.*

(1) Click Find Now

(2) Left click on any files found and delete them

3. In Windows Explorer (Start-Programs-Windows Explorer) check for available system memory.

i) Right click on the C drive

ii) Left click on properties

iii) How much memory do you have in available system resources?

4. Ensure that your printer has enough RAM memory to support the program.

a) Generally, 300dpi printers require 2MB;

b) 600dpi printers require at least 4MB.

c) For a HP1600C, 6MB minimum is required.

d) If the photos print on one page and the text prints on another page, then you need to set the paper size to legal.

e) If the sketch prints on one page and the area calculations print on another page, then you need to set the paper size to legal.

f) If part of a report prints on one page and the rest prints on another page, then your printer does not have enough ram.

5. Change printer settings (on the computer that that has the printer connected to it)

a) Click START; highlight SETTINGS, then choose PRINTERS.

b) Highlight your printer; then go to FILE on the main menu.

c) Choose PROPERTIES.

i) Click the DETAILS tab.

ii) You might want to increase/double the time out settings if you are getting a time out error.

iii) Click the SPOOL SETTINGS button.

iv) Click the drop-down arrow on the right of the SPOOL DATA FORMAT: field.

v) Select the RAW option and click on OK. Try and print.

d) Click the Font tab

i) Click Send Fonts As.

ii) In the Send Fonts As dialog box, click Outlines (if available), and then click OK.

e) Click the Graphics tab

i) Change the resolution to 150 dpi.

6. If you are encountering the problem printing from Photograph-It or Sketch-It, try posting to Appraise-It and printing from Appraise-It.

7. In Appraise-It,

a) Click FILE-PRINT,

i) Make sure COLLATE is not selected.

ii) Make sure ENABLE TONER SAVER is selected

b) If there is still a problem, open your report and go to File-Utilities-Printer Fonts.

i) Select either DEFAULT or ALTERNATE (whichever is the opposite of the one that is now selected). This procedure is especially useful if the text is overlapping.

ii) If the vertical section boxes are printing solid black with no reversed/white lettering in them, check or uncheck (the opposite of what is presently selected) the box labeled "Disable Rotated Fonts".

iii) If the above procedure does not fix the problem or the text in these boxes prints horizontally across the page instead of vertically down the page, choose "Disable Vertical Fonts".

iv) Also, try hitting Ctrl+R before you print.

8. Reinstall printer driver (if you have the disk to reinstall the driver)

a) Click Start-Settings-Printers

b) Left click the printer and delete it

c) Left click the ADD Printer icon and reinstall that driver

9. To free additional memory

a) Close Appraise-It every 45 minutes and reopen it. (This will cleanse out the ram.)

b) Do not have any other applications open when printing from Appraise-It.

i) For example, if you are printing photos, post them to Appraise-It, close Photograph-It, and print them from Appraise-It.

ii) It is preferable to print the photos from Appraise-It, but if this presents a problem, you might try printing directly from Photograph-It with Appraise-It closed.

9. If you still have problems, you might try shutting down background programs that might be using up your ram.

a) If you have WINDOWS 98,

i) Click Start—Find—Files or Folders

ii) Type: msconfig.exe

iii) Click Find Now.

iv) Right click on the Msconfig.exe file name and drag it to your desktop

v) Left-click to create a short cut

vi) Double click the new msconfig.exe shortcut you just created

vii) In the System Configuration Utility, click the Start Up TAB (not the selective startup on the General Tap).

viii) Deselect everything in the Start Up tab

ix) Click OK and Reboot

b) If you have WINDOWS 95

i) Click Ctrl+Alt+Del.

ii) To permanently prevent applications from running in the background, you may have to look in three places: Start Up, Win.ini, and Registry.

(i) StartUp (C:\Windows\Start Menu\Program\StartUp)

(a) In Windows Explorer create a StartNot folder in C:\Windows\Start Menu\Program

(b) Move programs form StartUp to StartNot

(ii) Win.ini (C:\Windows)

(a) Double click win.ini, in C:\Windows, and put a semicolon in front of these two commands:

(1) ;run=

(2) ;load=

(b) Click File¾Save.

(d) Reboot. Run Appraise-It and see if you are still having the problem. If so, then hit CTRL+ALT+DELETE and see if anything besides explorer and systray are running in the background. These remaining programs must be remarked out in the registry. WARNING: TAMPERING WITH THE REGISTRY CAN COMPLETELY DISABLE YOUR COMPUTER. IT SHOULD ONLY BE DONE BY A COMPUTER TECHNICIAN!!!!!!!!!!

If none of the above works, here other some other considerations.

10. Do you have the same problem if you turn print spooling off and print directly to printer.

11. Device Driver conflict—reboot and try it in safe mode. (If this corrects the problem, then you have to isolate the device driver conflict by systematically going through the same process again and choosing yes to one option at a time and seeing which one creates the problem and then delete that driver.)

12. Try a different printer driver

13. If you are using HP Laserjet 4/5/6 series printers. Install the HP Laserjet IIIP print driver and use it to print to the current printer. This is HP universal driver for laser jets.

a) Click Start-Settings-Printer

b) Double click on Add printer

i) If the printer is not networked, choose Local Printer

ii) If the printer is networked, choose Network Printer and browse to it

c) Under Manufacturers, choose HP

d) Under Printers, choose Hp LaserJet IIIP

e) Click Next

f) Choose LPT1 for printer port and click Next

g) Printer name should read HP LaserJet IIIP. Click Next.

h) Click Finish.

i) In the list of printers in the printer dialogue box, right click on the Hp LaserJet IIIP

j) Left click on Properties

i) Click the DETAILS tab

(1) Click the SPOOL SETTINGS button.

(2) Click the drop-down arrow on the right of the SPOOL DATA FORMAT: field.

(3) Select the RAW option

ii) Click on the Graphics tab

(1) Under Resolution select 300 dpi

k) Click OK

l) Open Appraise-It

ii) Click File-Printer Setup

iii) Click the scroll down and select the HP LaserJet III

iv) Click Setup

v) Click the Graphics tab and select 300 dpi if it is not already selected

vi) Click OK, OK

vii) Try to print the problem reports to your HP Laserjet 4/5/6 using this IIIP driver

15. If you are using a HP desk jet, follow the above directions but use the HP DJ 550C, which is the HP universal driver for desk jets.

16. Network Pinter

a) If printing on network, how the printers are connected? Are the printers connected to the workstation having the problem?

b) If the printers are connected to one computer, are they using one port with a switch box or are they using two ports.

c) If it is working on the computer to which the printer is attached but not the other computers,

ii) On the computer to which the printer is attached, open control panel.

(1) Right click on the printer icon

(2) Left click Sharing.

(3) Is it shared? As what?

iii) On the one where it is not working, open control panel

iv) Right click printer icon

v) Left click Properties

vi) Left click Details

vii) Does the path match the port above?

d) Try capturing the printer port:

i) On the computer to which the printer is connected, click START-SETTINGS-PRINTERS

(1) Right click on the printer icon

(a) Left click PROPERTIES

(b) Click the DETAILS tab

(i) Print To The Following Port should read: LPT1: (PRINTER PORT)

(ii) Click OK

(2) Right click on the printer icon

(3) Left click SET AS DEFAULT. (WinComps uses Window’s default printer. The LIST should print from this port on this computer when this printer is set as the default.)

e) On the other computers, click START-SETTINGS-PRINTERS

i) Right click on the printer icon

(1) Left click PROPERTIES

(2) Click the DETAILS tab

(a) Highlight the information in Print To The Following Port. (This should be the mapped network path to the printer above in step 1.)

(b) Hit ctrl+C

(i) For DEVICE select LPT1

(ii) Left click in the PATH box

(iii) Hit ctrl+V (This should copy the path from step 2a to this box.)

(iv) Click OK

(d) Under Print To The Following Port click the scroll down arrow

(e) Click on LPT1. The path in the ( ) should now be the path from step 2a.

(f) Click OK

ii) WinComps will now print the information to LPT1 and Windows will transfer that print job to LPT1 on the machine to which the printer is connected.