Printer issue?

[WizeOne]

I run a DOS based business program on my Win2k machine. It is an old PII 400 mhz unit that stays on all the time.

When I go to print an invoice (in this case) nothing happens. I go back out to the desk top and see this message in a little box titled "printer folder".

There was a error found when printing the docuement "no docuement name" to disk. Then a cancel or retry button.

If I do a 'restart', go back to the invoice, it prints straight away. Leave the computer on for some time, go back and create a new invoice and I get the print error.

Another thing that seeming started about the same time, is that when I restart, the computer boots to the desk top with the local D disk folder open.

Any clue what is going on in both counts?

FWIIW, I am printing to an HP laser printer.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Printer issue?

In my last job I had numerous problems with the win2k systems hanging up for reasons unknown.

You probably need to go into the startup and find out what has been changed or added.

 

[ThumbPkr]

Re: Printer issue?

Not that this helps any but Win2K did not have system restore either.......WinME had but Win2K did not.A sytem restore would probably be the easy way to fix it.
It would not be too much of a stretch to conclude that both problems are probably related,it may come down to doing a "restore" reinstall of Win2K.
If you are not running SP4 it may be worthwhile to do that upgrade first.Ron G

 

[rwise]

Re: Printer issue?

Sounds like a clean up is in order, maybe uninsatall and reinstall the driver,,,,

helpless desk says reboot,,,,

 

[dolluper]

Re: Printer issue?

Would that be through USB port to the printer

 

[WizeOne]

Re: Printer issue?

Would that be through USB port to the printer

No, it is a now older HP 2100N laser running off a parallel port, thru an A/B switch so I can use it from both my computers. The printer is also configured so that 3 other computers, on the wired network, can access it when the switch is in the A position. This issue does not happen on any of the other computers.

If it ends up a Win2k issue, it will be time to install a new harddrive as mine are getting long in the tooth and they are also way too full.

 

[Adjuster]

Re: Printer issue?

LOL it does sound like you need to update some of your old equipment. But if you are happy with what you have then the first thing I would do is completely uninstall the printer driver. Then go to the HP website directly and see if you can download the most up-to-date driver. After installing the driver make sure to check that the new driver did actually install and not the old original driver somehow. I am not familiar with Win2K but does it have the feature where you insert the original install disc and it will run a repair program to make sure nothing has been corrupted? The common versions of Windows have this.

 

[v1_0]

Re: Printer issue?

I run a DOS based business program on my Win2k machine. It is an old PII 400 mhz unit that stays on all the time.

When I go to print an invoice (in this case) nothing happens. I go back out to the desk top and see this message in a little box titled "printer folder".

There was a error found when printing the docuement "no docuement name" to disk. Then a cancel or retry button.

If I do a 'restart', go back to the invoice, it prints straight away. Leave the computer on for some time, go back and create a new invoice and I get the print error.

Another thing that seeming started about the same time, is that when I restart, the computer boots to the desk top with the local D disk folder open.

Any clue what is going on in both counts?

FWIIW, I am printing to an HP laser printer.

Sounds like a print spooler issue similar to this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816924

 

[i386]

Re: Printer issue?

Sounds like it's trying to print to a file instead of a printer. Examples: Adobe Acrobat or MS XPS Document thingy.

Strange thing for DOS though. In your software there's probably a printer setup screen somewhere. Make sure you're printing to LPT1 (if that's the right setting).

Just for a test you can open up a command prompt and type "echo Testing > LPT1:" (no quotes). Your printer should print that.