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HP Deskjet 870Cse spits out paper on bootup
My Deskjet 870Cse,when booting up my system, before Windows 98 GUI even loads, will occasionally spew out several sheets of paper with a line of garbage on the ver top of the page.
I have the most current HP drivers installed (even though they're not being loaded during that part of the boot).
It happens frequently but not everytime I restart and it will keep shooting out paper until the system finally boots completely up or I grab the paper out of the tray, whichever happens first. Ideas appreciated, HP knowledge base is of no help!
I have the most current HP drivers installed (even though they're not being loaded during that part of the boot).
It happens frequently but not everytime I restart and it will keep shooting out paper until the system finally boots completely up or I grab the paper out of the tray, whichever happens first. Ideas appreciated, HP knowledge base is of no help!
Did this happen under Win95?
ASKER
If I remember correctly, yes it did, but that was several months ago.
What is the line of garbage? Random characters or graphic dump or something more cryptic?
ASKER
non readable stuff, garbage, a partial line, not usually letters in it
I have seen this happen with NT but I have no experinece with 98 as yet. NT does it when the capture printer port is selected in the printer setup in contol panels. Not only does it do it on startup but all day unless it is turned off.
Hmmm. Have you changed the cable? Do you get garbage printing/bad printing at other times? Something is either talking to the port or you've got electical noise entering the system. Are you going thru a printer switch or somesuch? I'm thinking hardware problem here. Look around for a source of electrical noise. Is you printer plugged into the same outlet as the coffee pot? Is the cable draped over the back of the monitor or by a flourescent light, etc.
A software problem would tend to send the *same* garbage every time.
Have you tried turning your printer on *AFTER* your computer has booted? This would give the computer time to initialize the LPT port and any "glitchy" data would not be felt to the printer.
Does the printer spew out the pages when *NOT* connected to the computer? If so, send it in for service, the power supply is going bad or your print controller card in the printer id dying.
M
A software problem would tend to send the *same* garbage every time.
Have you tried turning your printer on *AFTER* your computer has booted? This would give the computer time to initialize the LPT port and any "glitchy" data would not be felt to the printer.
Does the printer spew out the pages when *NOT* connected to the computer? If so, send it in for service, the power supply is going bad or your print controller card in the printer id dying.
M
Got to control panel, double click on printers icon. Find HP870 icon and right-click it. Click on properties.
Under 'General' make sure that page seperator is set to NONE.
Click on 'Details' tab and then click on 'Port Settings'.
Ensure that 'Spool MS-Dos jobs' is NOT checked and that 'Check port state before printing' IS checked.
Got to spool settings and make sure that spool settings are enabled, and that spool format is EMF.
Also have you now, or ever before, had something else like a Scanner, daisy-chained onto your parrallel port.
Under 'General' make sure that page seperator is set to NONE.
Click on 'Details' tab and then click on 'Port Settings'.
Ensure that 'Spool MS-Dos jobs' is NOT checked and that 'Check port state before printing' IS checked.
Got to spool settings and make sure that spool settings are enabled, and that spool format is EMF.
Also have you now, or ever before, had something else like a Scanner, daisy-chained onto your parrallel port.
ASKER
All of the items mentioned have been checked, there is nothing unusual about my setup, I'm not near a large generator, my cable is fairly new (2 months). My printer is hooked up to a dedicated parallel port, no pass through devices, etc... There is simply nothing out of the ordinary about this configuration and this port (LPT2) has never been used for anything other than this printer. This *only* happens during bootup, BEFORE any Windows 98 drivers are loading.
Ok, then your BIOS is doing something silly. What happens if you wait for Win98 to load before turning on printer? Does it eject *then*?
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ASKER
I always grab at the paper left in the tray to stop it from spewing out paper, but I am pretty certain that when Win98 boots up it stops either because of coincidence or because of Win 98 initializing ports or something like that. Again, this is not an every time occurance, it is an occasional occurance, happens roughly every 3 out of 10 times...
Do you have a parallel ZIP drive installed at the same parallel port?
Like I said, does it spit out extra paper if you wait until *after* win98 is up & running to turn on the printer?
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ASKER
ahhhh, I've never turned on the printer after Win98 loads. I have a master on/off power setup that turns everything on at one time. I will try this scenario to see if it makes any difference, but this will take some time.
Good. This is required test for diagnostic. I keep my printer on separate switch (is hp LJ and I'm trying to hold the line on the electric bill).
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