Printer problem (oh no, not again!)

Ad Kersten · Post by **Ad Kersten** » 8 Mar 2001 2:22 pm

Can anybody advise me why my HP670C sometimes makes a neat print (f.i. of a Word document) but most of the times prints a few lines, or a row of symbols, and then just spits out a couple of pages or gets stuck?
Especially printing pages from the web (the forum of course) are troublesome, but also Word documents go wrong many times.
I searched the forum but didn't find anything.
The printer is parallel. I also have a HP4300C scanner on USB. It all runs on MS Millenium.
I tried ths data setting EMF and RAW but this doesn't help either. There is also no message of an IRQ problem.
Who's the wizard that can help me with this one?
Thanks,
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Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 8 Mar 2001 2:27 pm

What happens on test pages? There is a Windows test page in the printer properties and if the 670 has a similar Hewlett Packard setup as my 882C the HP printer utilities also has a test page in it.

Try those and see what happens. It may be a problem in the printer rather than a software or I/O problem.

Everett Cox · Post by **Everett Cox** » 8 Mar 2001 3:55 pm

Jack- does it sound like it's printing the COMMANDS rather than EXECUTING them??/

I've seen this happen on others but am not that familiar with HP printers. --Everett

Ad Kersten · Post by **Ad Kersten** » 11 Mar 2001 12:24 pm

Jack,
Testpages were not printed well: characters were too large and the 2nd attempt gave no page at all. In my new computer there were no drivers for my HP670C in Windows Me, so I selected then HP690C drivers. I guess this was, at least partially, the cause or the problem. After removing all printers and installing my HP670C with the correct drivers it all runs well (sofar so good!). Everett, you might be right about printing the commands: characters printed were 0, arrows, smileys, hearts and such.
Thanks to both of you for your help.
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Jonathan Cullifer · Post by **Jonathan Cullifer** » 11 Mar 2001 1:43 pm

Is the printer hooked up to your parallel port or USB? I have had problems with a very old HP660CSE and a 693C, where it would intermittently do these things.

First thing I suggest is that you uninstall all of the software that came with the printer. Sometimes a bad driver will do it. Also, check your cables to make sure they are securely attached to your computer and printer. USB cables should "lock" in when they are securely fastened.

Also, if it continues to have this problem, and your printer supports it, get a USB cable, uninstall the drivers, shut your computer down, and plug up the cable. You can then unplug the parallel cable between your printer and computer. Turn your computer on and install the drivers.

Note that when you use a USB cable, you can no longer print from MS-DOS programs. If you have any MS-DOS programs that you need to use, I advise that you do not do the USB upgrade.

Best regards,
Jonathan

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www.cullifer.com

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 11 Mar 2001 4:07 pm

Jonathan, read his post again. He said he fixed it by installing the driver for the printer.

Ad Kersten · Post by **Ad Kersten** » 12 Mar 2001 2:51 pm

Thanks Jonathan,
It is still working o.k now (keeping my fingers crossed).
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Jonathan Cullifer · Post by **Jonathan Cullifer** » 14 Mar 2001 10:00 am

Sorry, I didn't see it. I spent a little while writing my post.